Genes involved in plant fibre development

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides polypeptides, and polynucleotides encoding therefore, involved in the regulation of fibre initiation and/or elongation in fibre producing plants. In particular, the present invention provides methods of altering fibre initiation in cotton making use of transcription factors, regulatory proteins or cell cycle proteins produced at or around anthesis. The invention also relates to the use of these as markers of fibre production in plants including cotton.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to polypeptides, and polynucleotides encoding therefor, involved in the regulation of fibre initiation and/or elongation in fibre producing plants. In particular, the present invention provides methods of altering fibre initiation in cotton and products thereof. The invention also relates to the use of these polypeptides and polynucleotides as markers of fibre production in plants including cotton.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum, and to a lesser extent Gossyptum barbadense together with other Gossypium species) provides about 55% of the fibre used in textile manufacturing globally and is an important contributor to world economies. The cotton fibre is probably the most elongated cell in the plant kingdom. The molecular mechanisms that control the differentiation of this elongated plant cell are still largely unknown. Although commonly called fibres, these cells are not part of the vascular tissue and arise, instead, from the ovule epidermis. Fibres of cotton are extremely long single elongated epidermal cells that develop on the outer surface of cotton ovules, reaching upwards of 5 centimetres in some species. Fibre initiation starts between a day before and up to a day after anthesis and the fibre initials begin to elongate immediately after fertilisation, ballooning out from the surface of the seed coat epidermis. After a period of elongation, secondary cell wall thickening fills the fibre with cellulose and the fibre dies and collapses to form the mature fibre that is harvested from the seeds.

In contrast to the discovery of numerous genes responsible for fibre elongation and secondary cell wall synthesis, few genes have been identified that are associated with fibre initiation. Early cytological studies showed structural changes in fibre initials occur up to three days before anthesis: including enlarged nucleoli and nuclei, as well as an increased number of Golgi complexes (Berlin, 1986). It has been proposed that the Arabidopsis leaf trichomes, which require at least twenty genes for normal development (Hülskamp et al., 1994), could serve as a model for elucidating the genetic mechanisms controlling cotton fibre initiation and differentiation.

One of the first genes to be characterised in controlling leaf trichomes, GLABROUS1 (GL1), encodes a member of the Myb family of transcription factors (Oppenheimer et al., 1991). An exhaustive search of a cotton ovule cDNA library recovered six novel Myb-domain genes, but none of them encoded a GL1 homolog (Loguercio et al., 1999). Arabidopsis trichome initiation is proposed to be controlled by a trichome promoting complex comprised of GL1, TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA1 (TTG1, a WD40 protein), and GLABRA3 (GL3, a basic Helix-Loop-Helix protein). GLABRA2 (GL2, a Homeodomain protein) regulates trichome morphology and spacing and TRIPTYCHON (TRY, a Myb-like protein) mediates lateral inhibition of trichome development in cells adjacent to each trichome (Rerie et al., 1994; Walker et al., 1999; Szymanski et al., 2000; Schellmann et al., 2002; Ohashi et al., 2002). However, genes with similar functions in cotton have yet to be identified, and hence it remains speculative whether these two single celled epidermal hair systems share any common features.

There is a need for the identification and characterization of genes involved in fibre initiation in fibre producing plants such as cotton. This will enable markers to be used to screen plants for desirable fibre traits, as well as allow for the production of transgenic plants with altered fibre production.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To identify genes that may be specific to fibre initiation, the present inventors have used mRNA from early stage fertilised ovules of wild type and 5 lintless mutants of cotton (that produce little if any fibres) to probe a cotton ovule cDNA microarray containing 10,000 cDNAs expressed around the time of fibre cell differentiation. Since pollination may already have occurred and zygote development initiated at this stage, the inventors used a separate microarray comparison between the mRNAs of the outer integument and those of the inner ovule tissues of the wild type cotton to filter out those genes that are not expressed specifically in the seed coat outer integument where the fibres are initiated. Using this strategy genes have been identified that are differentially expressed in the lintless mutants, and hence play a role in fibre initiation.

In one aspect, the present invention provides a method of altering fibre initiation and/or elongation in a fibre producing plant comprising manipulating said plant such that the production of a polypeptide is modified when compared to a wild-type plant, wherein the polypeptide is a transcription factor, regulatory protein, or a cell cycle protein, produced in said wild type plant at, or around, anthesis.

Preferably, the polypeptide comprises a sequence selected from the group consisting of:

i) an amino acid sequence provided as any one of SEQ ID NO's:1 to 3 or 12; or

ii) an amino acid sequence which is at least 50% identical to any one of SEQ ID NO's:1 to 3 or 12.

In another aspect the present invention provides a method of altering fibre initiation and/or elongation in a fibre producing plant comprising manipulating said plant such that the production of a polypeptide is modified when compared to a wild-type plant, wherein the polypeptide comprises a sequence selected from the group consisting of:

i) an amino acid sequence provided as any one of SEQ ID NO's:1 to 16; or

ii) an amino acid sequence which is at least 50% identical to any one of SEQ ID NO's:1 to 16.

Preferably, the polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence which is at least 60%, more preferably at least 65%, more preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 75%, more preferably at least 76%, more preferably at least 80%, more preferably at least 85%, more preferably at least 90%, more preferably at least 91%, more preferably at least 92%, more preferably at least 93%, more preferably at least 94%, more preferably at least 95%, more preferably at least 96%, more preferably at least 97%, more preferably at least 98%, more preferably at least 99%, more preferably at least 99.1%, more preferably at least 99.2%, more preferably at least 99.3%, more preferably at least 99.4%, more preferably at least 99.5%, more preferably at least 99.6%, more preferably at least 99.7%, more preferably at least 99.8%, and even more preferably at least 99.9% identical to any one of SEQ ID NO's: 1 to 16.

In one embodiment, the polypeptide comprises a sequence selected from the group consisting of:

i) an amino acid sequence provided as SEQ ID NO: 1; or

ii) an amino acid sequence which is at least 80% identical to SEQ ID NO:1.

In another embodiment, the polypeptide comprises a sequence selected from the group consisting of:

i) an amino acid sequence provided as SEQ ID NO:2; or

ii) an amino acid sequence which is at least 80% identical to SEQ ID NO:2.

In a further embodiment, the polypeptide comprises a sequence selected from the group consisting of:

i) an amino acid sequence provided as SEQ ID NO:3; or

ii) an amino acid sequence which is at least 80% identical to SEQ ID NO:3.

In another embodiment, the method comprises recombinantly expressing the polypeptide in said plant.

In an alternate embodiment, the method comprises reducing the level of the polypeptide endogenously produced by the plant. This can be achieved by any means known in the art. One example is by exposing the plant to an antisense polynucleotide or a catalytic polynucleotide which hybridizes to an mRNA molecule encoding the polypeptide. Another example is by exposing the plant to a dsRNA molecule that specifically down-regulates mRNA levels in a cell of an mRNA molecule encoding the polypeptide.

In a further embodiment, the plant is a horticultural plant.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the plant is a species of the Genus Gossypium.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a method of assessing the potential of a fibre producing plant to produce fibre, the method comprising analysing the plant for a genetic variation in a polynucleotide associated with fibre initiation and/or elongation, wherein the polynucleotide encodes a transcription factor, regulatory protein, or a cell cycle protein, produced in a wild type plant at, or around, anthesis.

Preferably, the polynucleotide comprises a sequence selected from the group consisting of:

i) a nucleotide sequence provided as any one of SEQ ID NO's:17 to 22, or 38; or

ii) a nucleotide sequence which is at least 50% identical to any one of SEQ ID NO's:17 to 22, or 38.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of assessing the potential of a fibre producing plant to produce fibre, the method comprising analysing the plant for a genetic variation in a polynucleotide associated with fibre initiation and/or elongation, wherein the polynucleotide comprises a sequence selected from the group consisting of:

i) a nucleotide sequence provided as any one of SEQ ID NO's:17 to 45; or

ii) a nucleotide sequence which is at least 50% identical to any one of SEQ ID NO's:17 to 45.

Preferably, the polynucleotide comprises a nucleotide sequence which is at least 60%, more preferably at least 65%, more preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 75%, more preferably at least 76%, more preferably at least 80%, more preferably at least 85%, more preferably at least 90%, more preferably at least 91%, more preferably at least 92%, more preferably at least 93%, more preferably at least 94%, more preferably at least 95%, more preferably at least 96%, more preferably at least 97%, more preferably at least 98%, more preferably at least 99%, more preferably at least 99.1%, more preferably at least 99.2%, more preferably at least 99.3%, more preferably at least 99.4%, more preferably at least 99.5%, more preferably at least 99.6%, more preferably at least 99.7%, more preferably at least 99.8%, and even more preferably at least 99.9% identical to any one of SEQ ID NO's: 17 to 45.

As the skilled addressee would be aware, the genetic variation associated with fibre initiation and/or elongation may be in the coding portion of a polynucleotide of the invention, or may be genetically linked to be useful as a marker for fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In one embodiment, the method comprises performing an amplification reaction on nucleic acids obtained from said plant, or nucleic acids synthesized using nucleic acids from said plant as a template, wherein the production of an amplicon in said amplification reaction indicates an association with fibre producing potential.

In another embodiment, the method comprises performing an amplification reaction on nucleic acids obtained from said plant, or nucleic acids synthesized using nucleic acids from said plant as a template, wherein the lack of production of an amplicon in said amplification reaction indicates an association with fibre producing potential.

In a further embodiment, the method comprises performing a hybridization reaction on nucleic acids obtained from said plant, or nucleic acids synthesized using nucleic acids from said plant as a template, wherein a detectable signal produced by the hybridization reaction indicates reduced fibre producing potential.

In yet another embodiment, the method comprises performing a hybridization reaction on nucleic acids obtained from said plant, or nucleic acids synthesized using nucleic acids from said plant as a template, wherein the lack of a detectable signal by the hybridization reaction indicates reduced fibre producing potential.

In an alternate embodiment, the polynucleotide is mRNA and the method comprises determining the levels of mRNA of the polynucleotide in the plant ovule at, or around, anthesis.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a method of assessing the potential of a fibre producing plant to produce fibre, the method comprising analysing the plant for a polypeptide involved in fibre initiation and/or elongation, wherein the polypeptide is a transcription factor, regulatory protein, or a cell cycle protein, produced in a wild type plant at, or around, anthesis.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a method of assessing the potential of a fibre producing plant to produce fibre, the method comprising analysing the plant for polypeptide involved in fibre initiation and/or elongation, wherein the polypeptide comprises a sequence selected from the group consisting of:

i) an amino acid sequence provided as any one of SEQ ID NO's:1 to 16; or

ii) an amino acid sequence which is at least 50% identical to any one of SEQ ID NO's:1 to 16.

Preferably, the method comprises determining the levels of the polypeptide in the plant ovule at, or around, anthesis.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:1,

ii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which is at least 87% identical to SEQ ID NO:1, and

iii) a biologically active fragment of i) or ii),

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

Preferably, the polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence which is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO:1.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:2, and

ii) a biologically active fragment of i),

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:3,

ii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which is at least 54% identical to SEQ ID NO:3, and

iii) a biologically active fragment of i) or ii),

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:4,

ii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which is at least 55% identical to SEQ ID NO:4, and

iii) a biologically active fragment of i) or ii),

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In another aspect, the present invention provides substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:5,

ii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which is at least 50% identical to SEQ ID NO:5, and

iii) a biologically active fragment of i) or ii),

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:6,

ii) a polypeptide comprising id sequence which is at least 50% identical to SEQ ID NO:6, and

iii) a biologically active fragment of i) or ii),

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:7,

ii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which is at least 79% identical to SEQ ID NO:7, and

iii) a biologically active fragment of i) or ii),

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:8,

ii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which is at least 66% identical to SEQ ID NO:8, and

iii) a biologically active fragment of i) or ii),

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:9,

ii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO:9, and

iii) a biologically active fragment of i) or

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In another aspect, the present invention provides s substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:10,

ii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which is at least 67% identical to SEQ ID NO:10, and

iii) a biologically active fragment of i) or ii),

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:11,

ii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which is at least 55% identical to SEQ ID NO:11, and

iii) a biologically active fragment of i) or ii),

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:12,

ii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which is at least 59% identical to SEQ ID NO:12, and

iii) a biologically active fragment of i) or ii),

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:13,

ii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which is at least 77% identical to SEQ ID NO:13, and

iii) a biologically active fragment of i) or ii),

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:14,

ii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which is at least 50% identical to SEQ ID NO:14, and

iii) a biologically active fragment of i) or ii),

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:15,

ii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which is at least 64% identical to SEQ ID NO:15, and

iii) a biologically active fragment of i) or ii),

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a substantially purified polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:16,

ii) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence which is at least 50% identical to SEQ ID NO:16, and

iii) a biologically active fragment of i) or ii),

wherein the polypeptide regulates fibre initiation and/or elongation.

With regard to the polypeptide aspects, it will be appreciated that % identity figures higher than those provided above will encompass preferred embodiments. Thus, where applicable, in light of the minimum % identity figures, it is preferred that the polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence which is at least 60%, more preferably at least 65%, more preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 75%, more preferably at least 76%, more preferably at least 80%, more preferably at least 85%, more preferably at least 90%, more preferably at least 91%, more preferably at least 92%, more preferably at least 93%, more preferably at least 94%, more preferably at least 95%, more preferably at least 96%, more preferably at least 97%, more preferably at least 98%, more preferably at least 99%, more preferably at least 99.1%, more preferably at least 99.2%, more preferably at least 99.3%, more preferably at least 99.4%, more preferably at least 99.5%, more preferably at least 99.6%, more preferably at least 99.7%, more preferably at least 99.8%, and even more preferably at least 99.9% identical to the relevant nominated SEQ ID NO.

Preferably, the polypeptide can be purified from a species of the Genus Gossypium.

Preferably, the polypeptide is a fusion protein further comprising at least one other polypeptide sequence.

In a preferred embodiment, the at least one other polypeptide is selected from the group consisting of: a polypeptide that enhances the stability of a polypeptide of the present invention, a polypeptide that assists in the purification of the fusion protein, and a polypeptide which assists in the polypeptide of the invention being secreted from a cell (particularly a plant cell).

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:17;

ii) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:18;

iii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention;

iv) a sequence of nucleotides which is at least 87% identical to SEQ ID NO:17 or SEQ ID NO:18; and

v) a sequence which hybridizes to any one of i) to iv) under high stringency conditions,

wherein the polynucleotide does not comprise a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:46.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:19,

ii) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:20,

iii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention, and

iv) a sequence complementary to any one of i) to iii).

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:21;

ii) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:22;

iii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention;

iv) a sequence of nucleotides which is at least 54% identical to SEQ ID NO:21 or SEQ ID NO:22; and

v) a sequence which hybridizes to any one of i) to iv) under high stringency conditions,

wherein the polynucleotide does not comprise a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:47.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:23;

ii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention;

iii) a sequence of nucleotides which is at least 55% identical to SEQ ID NO:23; and

iv) a sequence which hybridizes to any one of i) to iii) under high stringency conditions,

wherein the polynucleotide does not comprise a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:48.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:24;

ii) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:25;

iii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention;

iv) a sequence of nucleotides which is at least 50% identical to SEQ ID NO:24 or SEQ ID NO:25; and

v) a sequence which hybridizes to any one of i) to iv) under high stringency conditions,

wherein the polynucleotide does not comprise a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:49.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:26;

ii) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:27;

iii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention;

iv) a sequence of nucleotides which is at least 50% identical to SEQ ID NO:26 or SEQ ID NO:27; and

v) a sequence which hybridizes to any one of i) to iv) under high stringency conditions,

wherein the polynucleotide does not comprise a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:50.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:28,

ii) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:29,

iii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention,

iv) a sequence complementary to any one of i) to iii).

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:30;

ii) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:31;

iii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention;

iv) a sequence of nucleotides which is at least 65% identical to SEQ NO:30 or SEQ ID NO:31; and

v) a sequence which hybridizes to any one of i) to iv) under high stringency conditions,

wherein the polynucleotide does not comprise a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:51.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:32,

ii) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:33,

iii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention,

iv) a sequence complementary to any one of i) to iii).

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ NO:34;

ii) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:35;

iii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention;

iv) a sequence of nucleotides which is at least 70% identical to SEQ ID NO:34 or SEQ NO:35; and

v) a sequence which hybridizes to any one of i) to iv) under high stringency conditions,

wherein the polynucleotide does not comprise a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:52.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:36;

ii) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:37;

iii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention;

iv) a sequence of nucleotides which is at least 55% identical to SEQ ID NO:36 or SEQ ID NO:37; and

v) a sequence which hybridizes to any one of i) to iv) under high stringency conditions,

wherein the polynucleotide does not comprise a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:53.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:38;

ii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention,

iii) a sequence of nucleotides which is at least 65% identical to SEQ ID NO:38; and

iv) a sequence which hybridizes to any one of i) to iii) under high stringency conditions.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:39;

ii) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:40;

iii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention;

iv) a sequence of nucleotides which is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO:39 or SEQ ID NO:40; and

v) a sequence which hybridizes to any one of i) to iv) under high stringency conditions,

wherein the polynucleotide does not comprise a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:54.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:41;

ii) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:42;

iii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention;

iv) a sequence of nucleotides which is at least 50% identical to SEQ ID NO:41 or SEQ ID NO:42; and

v) a sequence which hybridizes to any one of i) to iv) under high stringency conditions,

wherein the polynucleotide does not comprise a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:55.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:43;

ii) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:44;

iii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention;

iv) a sequence of nucleotides which is at least 65% identical to SEQ ID NO:43 or SEQ ID NO:44; and

v) a sequence which hybridizes to any one of i) to iv) under high stringency conditions,

wherein the polynucleotide does not comprise a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:56.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide comprising a sequence of nucleotides selected from the group consisting of:

i) a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:45;

ii) a sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention;

iii) a sequence of nucleotides which is at least 50% identical to SEQ ID NO:45; and

iv) a sequence which hybridizes to any one of i) to iii) under high stringency conditions,

wherein the polynucleotide does not comprise a sequence of nucleotides as provided in SEQ ID NO:57.

With regard to the polynucleotide aspects, it will be appreciated that % identity figures higher than those provided above will encompass preferred embodiments. Thus, where applicable, in light of the minimum % identity figures, preferred that the polynucleotide comprises a nucleotide sequence which is at least 60%, more preferably at least 65%, more preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 75%, more preferably at least 76%, more preferably at least 80%, more preferably at least 85%, more preferably at least 90%, more preferably at least 91%, more preferably at least 92%, more preferably at least 93%, more preferably at least 94%, more preferably at least 95%, more preferably at least 96%, more preferably at least 97%, more preferably at least 98%, more preferably at least 99%, more preferably at least 99.1%, more preferably at least 99.2%, more preferably at least 99.3%, more preferably at least 99.4%, more preferably at least 99.5%, more preferably at least 99.6%, more preferably at least 99.7%, more preferably at least 99.8%, and even more preferably at least 99.9% identical to the relevant nominated SEQ ID NO.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a catalytic polynucleotide capable of cleaving a polynucleotide according to the invention.

Preferably, the catalytic polynucleotide is a ribozyme.

In yet another aspect, the present invention provides an oligonucleotide which comprises at least 19 contiguous nucleotides of a polynucleotide according to the invention.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a double stranded RNA (dsRNA) molecule comprising an oligonucleotide according to the invention, wherein the portion of the molecule that is double stranded is at least 19 basepairs in length and comprises said oligonucleotide.

Preferably, the dsRNA is expressed from a single promoter, wherein the strands of the double stranded portion are linked by a single stranded portion.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a vector comprising or encoding the polynucleotide according to the invention.

The vectors may be, for example, a plasmid, virus, transposon or phage vector provided with an origin of replication, and preferably a promotor for the expression of the polynucleotide and optionally a regulator of the promotor. The vector may contain one or more selectable markers, for example an ampicillin resistance gene in the case of a bacterial plasmid or a neomycin resistance gene for a mammalian expression vector. The vector may be used in vitro, for example for the production of RNA or used to transfect or transform a host cell. Preferably, the vector is capable of replication in a plant cell.

Preferably, the polynucleotide is operably linked to a plant ovule or fibre specific promoter.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a vector comprising or encoding oligonucleotide of the invention or the dsRNA molecule of the invention.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a host cell comprising a vector according to the invention.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a transgenic plant, the plant having been transformed with a polynucleotide according to the invention or an oligonucleotide of the invention.

In one embodiment, the polynucleotide is capable of expression to produce a polypeptide according to the invention.

In an alternate embodiment, the plant has been transformed such that it produces a catalytic polynucleotide of the invention, or a dsRNA molecule of the invention.

In a further embodiment, the polynucleotide, catalytic polynucleotide or dsRNA down-regulates the production of a polypeptide of the invention which is endogenously produced by the plant.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a substantially purified antibody, or fragment thereof, that specifically binds a polypeptide of the invention.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of breeding a fibre producing plant, the method comprising performing a method according to the first, second or third aspects of the invention.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a method of selecting from a breeding population a fibre producing plant with altered fibre initiation and/or elongation potential, the method comprising;

i) crossing two plants which have differing potential to produce fibre,

ii) performing a method according to the first, second or third aspects of the invention on progeny plants,

iii) selecting a progeny plant with altered fibre initiation and/or elongation potential when compared to a parent plant.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a plant produced by a method of the invention.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a seed of a plant, transgenic or otherwise, of the invention.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides fibre of a plant, transgenic or otherwise, of the invention.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of identifying an agent which alters fibre initiation and/or elongation of a fibre producing plant, the method comprising

a) exposing a polypeptide which is at least 50% identical to any one of SEQ ID NO's:1 to 16 to a candidate agent, and

b) assessing the ability of the candidate agent to modulate the activity of the polypeptide.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a method of identifying an agent which alters fibre initiation and/or elongation of a fibre producing plant, the method comprising

a) exposing a polypeptide which is at least 50% identical to any one of SEQ ID NO's:1 to 16 to a binding partner which binds the polypeptide, and a candidate agent, and

b) assessing the ability of the candidate agent to compete with the binding partner for binding to the polypeptide.

Preferably, the binding partner is detectably labeled.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a method of identifying an agent which alters fibre initiation and/or elongation of a fibre producing plant, the method comprising

a) exposing a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide which is at least 50% identical to any one of SEQ ID NO's:1 to 16 to a candidate agent under conditions which allow expression of the polynucleotide, and

b) assessing the ability of the candidate agent to modulate levels of polypeptide produced by the polynucleotide.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of identifying an agent which alters fibre initiation and/or elongation of a fibre producing plant, the method comprising

a) exposing a polynucleotide which is at least 50% identical to any one of SEQ ID NO's:17 to 45 to a candidate agent, and

b) assessing the ability of the candidate agent to hybridize and/or cleave the polynucleotide.

As will be apparent, preferred features and characteristics of one aspect of the invention are applicable to many other aspects of the invention.

Throughout this specification the word “comprise”, or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps.

The invention is hereinafter described by way of the following non-limiting Examples and with reference to the accompanying figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. Expression profiles of the candidate genes measured by microarrays. The plots on the left side (column A) represent the results from the DP16 time course experiment and the values plotted are the ratios relative to 0 dpa. The plots on the right side (column B) represent the results of multi-time point Lintless 4A/DP 16 comparisons and the values plotted are the ratios of Lintless 4A/DP16 at the corresponding dpa. The genes showing similar expression profiles are plotted together.

FIG. 2. RT PCR of GhMyb25 with β-tubulin as control.

-   -   a. Different tissues from DP16. −Co: negative control, reaction         without reverse transcriptase; O: 0 dpa ovule; P: petal; L:         leaf; R: root; S: stem.     -   b. Ovule and fibre from DP16. The numbers indicate the         corresponding dpa.     -   c. Ovule from 3 mutants. The numbers indicated the corresponding         dpa.     -   d. Southern blotting of the c. hybridised with an ON035F4 probe.

FIG. 3. RT-PCR of GhHD1 with β-tubulin as control. −Co: negative control, reaction without reverse transcriptase; −4 to 4: DP16 ovules of various stages (dpa) as indicated by the corresponding number; 8O: 8 dpa ovule of DP16 after fibres being removed; 8F: 8 dpa detached fibres of DP16; 0-5B: 0 dpa ovule form mutant 5B; 0-4A: 0 dpa ovule from mutant 4A; L: leaf; P: petal; R: root; H: hypocotyl.

FIG. 4. Histograms of relative DNA contents of ovule epidermal cells and fibre cells.

KEY TO THE SEQUENCE LISTING

SEQ ID NO:1—Partial homeodomain like protein encoded by GhHD1 cDNA (clone ON033M7). SEQ ID NO:2—Myb transcription factor like protein encoded by GhMyb25 cDNA (clone ON035F4). SEQ ID NO:3—Partial cyclin D3 like protein encoded by GhCycD3;1 cDNA (clone OCF07F4). SEQ ID NO:4—Partial protein encoded by GhFaE1 cDNA (clone ON035N9). SEQ ID NO:5—Possible partial protein encoded by GhFU1 cDNA (clone ON035C9). SEQ ID NO:6—Possible partial protein encoded by GhFU2 cDNA (clone ON005F1). SEQ ID NO:7—α-expansin like protein cDNA (encoded in part by clone Pfs14x). SEQ ID NO:8—Partial protein encoded by GhTMTP cDNA (clone CHX015K18). SEQ ID NO:9—Sucrose synthase gene encoded by Ghsus cDNA (clone CHX002C10). SEQ ID NO:10—Partial protein encoded by GhLTP cDNA (clone ON033M19). SEQ ID NO:11—Protein encoded by GhLTP2 cDNA (clone OCF010D8). SEQ ID NO:12—Partial protein encoded by GhMyb25-like cDNA (clone ON038N8). SEQ ID NO:13—Protein encoded by GhRD22 cDNA (clone OCF005C10). SEQ ID NO:14—Protein encoded by GhRD22-like cDNA (clone OCF010D8). SEQ ID NO:15—Partial protein encoded by GhAsp cDNA (clone OCF008G9). SEQ ID NO:16—Partial protein encoded by cDNA clone CHX007D1. SEQ ID NO:17—GhHD1 cDNA (clone ON033M7). SEQ ID NO:18—Coding region of GhHD1 cDNA (clone ON033M7). SEQ ID NO:19—GhMyb25 cDNA (clone ON035F4). SEQ ID NO:20—Coding region for GhMyb25 cDNA (clone ON035F4). SEQ ID NO:21—GhCycD3;1 cDNA (clone OCF07F4). SEQ ID NO:22—Coding region of GhCycD3;1 cDNA (clone OCF07F4). SEQ ID NO:23—GhFaE1 cDNA (clone ON035N9) (entire clone coding region). SEQ ID NO:24—GhFU1 cDNA (clone ON035C9). SEQ ID NO:25—Coding region of GhFU1 cDNA (clone ON035C9). SEQ ID NO:26—GhFU2 cDNA (clone ON005F1). SEQ ID NO:27—Coding region of GhFU2 cDNA (clone ON005F1). SEQ ID NO:28—α-expansin like clone Pfs14x. SEQ ID NO:29—Coding region of x-expansin like clone Pfs14x. SEQ ID NO:30—GhTMTP cDNA (clone CHX015K18). SEQ ID NO:31—Coding region for GhTMTP cDNA (clone CHX015K18). SEQ ID NO:32—Ghsus cDNA (clone CHX002C10). SEQ ID NO:33—Coding region of Ghsus cDNA (clone CHX002C10). SEQ ID NO:34—GhLTP cDNA (clone ON033M19). SEQ ID NO:35—Coding region for GhLTP cDNA (clone ON033M19). SEQ ID NO:36—GhLTP2 cDNA (clone OCF010D8). SEQ ID NO:37—Coding region for GhLTP2 cDNA (clone OCF010D8). SEQ ID NO:38—GhMyb25-like cDNA (clone ON038N8) (entire clone coding region). SEQ ID NO:39—GhRD22 cDNA (clone OCF005C10). SEQ ID NO:40—Coding region for GhRD22 cDNA (clone OCF005C10). SEQ ID NO:41—GhRD22-like cDNA (clone OCF010D8). SEQ ID NO:42—Coding region for GhRD22-like cDNA (clone OCF010D8). SEQ ID NO:43—GhAsp cDNA (clone OCF008G9). SEQ ID NO:44—Coding region for GhAsp cDNA (clone OCF008G9). SEQ ID NO:45—cDNA clone CHX007D1 (entire clone coding region).

SEQ ID NO:46—Cotton EST BE052193. SEQ ID NO:47—Cotton EST BQ412597. SEQ ID NO:48—Cotton EST AI731943. SEQ ID NO:49—Cotton EST BG442467. SEQ ID NO:50—Cotton EST BQ403714. SEQ ID NO:51—Cotton EST BG443329. SEQ ID NO:52—Cotton EST BF275177. SEQ ID NO:53—Cotton EST BQ410140. SEQ ID NO:54—Cotton EST CA993037. SEQ ID NO:55—Cotton EST BG441493. SEQ ID NO:56—Cotton EST BQ402375. SEQ ID NO:57—Cotton EST BQ413582.

SEQ ID NO's:58 to 64—Stem loop sequences of dsRNA molecules. SEQ ID NO's:65 to 74—Oligonucleotide primers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OP INVENTION General Techniques and Definitions

Unless specifically defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein shall be taken to have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art (e.g., in cell culture, molecular genetics, plant physiology and biochemistry, immunohistochemistry, protein chemistry, and biochemistry).

Unless otherwise indicated, the recombinant protein, cell culture and others methods utilized in the present invention are standard procedures, well known to those skilled in the art. Such techniques are described and explained throughout the literature in sources such as, J. Perbal, A Practical Guide to Molecular Cloning, John Wiley and Sons (1984), J. Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory Press (1989), T. A. Brown (editor), Essential Molecular Biology: A Practical Approach, Volumes 1 and 2, IRL Press (1991), D. M. Glover and B. D. Hames (editors), DNA Cloning: A Practical Approach, Volumes 1-4, IRL Press (1995 and 1996), and F. M. Ausubel et al., (editors), Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Greene Pub. Associates and Wiley-Interscience (1988, including all updates until present), Ed Harlow and David Lane (editors) Antibodies: A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory, (1988), and J. E. Coligan et al., (editors) Current Protocols in Immunology, John Wiley & Sons (including all updates until present), and are incorporated herein by reference.

As used herein, the term “gene” is to be taken in its broadest context and includes the deoxyribonucleotide sequences comprising the protein coding region of a structural gene and including sequences located adjacent to the coding region on both the 5′ and 3′ ends for a distance of about 1 kb on either end such that the gene corresponds to the length of the full-length mRNA. The sequences which are located 5′ of the coding region and which are present on the mRNA are referred to as 5′ non-translated sequences. The sequences which are located 3′ or downstream of the coding region and which are present on the mRNA are referred to as 3′ non-translated sequences. The term “gene” encompasses both cDNA and genomic forms of a gene. A genomic form or clone of a gene contains the coding region which may be interrupted with non-coding sequences termed “introns” or “intervening regions” or “intervening sequences”. Introns are segments of a gene which are transcribed into nuclear RNA (hnRNA); introns may contain regulatory elements such as enhancers. Introns are removed or “spliced out” from the nuclear or primary transcript; introns therefore are absent in the messenger RNA (mRNA) transcript. The mRNA functions during translation to specify the sequence or order of amino acids in a nascent polypeptide. The term “gene” includes a synthetic or fusion molecule encoding all or part of the proteins of the invention described herein and a complementary nucleotide sequence to any one of the above.

A “polymorphism” as used herein denotes a variation in the nucleotide sequence of genes of the invention, between different species, cultivars, strains or individuals of a plant. A “polymorphic position” is a preselected nucleotide position within the sequence of the gene. In some cases, genetic polymorphisms are reflected by an amino acid sequence variation, and thus a polymorphic position can result in location of a polymorphism in the amino acid sequence at a predetermined position in the sequence of a polypeptide. Typical polymorphisms are deletions, insertions or substitutions. These can involve a single nucleotide (single nucleotide polymorphism or SNP) or two or more nucleotides.

A “deletion,” as used herein, refers to a change in either amino acid or nucleotide sequence in which one or more amino acid or nucleotide residues, respectively, are absent.

An “insertion” or “addition,” as used herein, refers to a change in an amino acid or nucleotide sequence resulting in the addition of one or more amino acid or nucleotide residues, respectively.

A “substitution,” as used herein, refers to the replacement of one or more amino acids or nucleotides by different amino acids or nucleotides, respectively.

By “linked” or “genetically linked” it is meant that a marker locus and a second locus are sufficiently close on a chromosome that they will be inherited together in more than 50% of meioses, e.g., not randomly. Thus, the percent of recombination observed between the loci per generation (centimorgans (cM)), will be less than 50. In particular embodiments of the invention, genetically linked loci may be 45, 35, 25, 15, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1 or less cM apart on a chromosome. Preferably, the markers are less than 5 cM apart and most preferably about 0 cM apart.

The term “fibre” refers to plant cell types that share in common the features of having an elongated shape and abundant cellulose in thick cell walls, usually, but not always, described as secondary walls. Such walls may or may not be lignified, and the protoplast of such cells may or may not remain alive at maturity. Here the term “fibre” is used in its most inclusive sense, for example including: (a) thick-walled conducting and non-conducting cells of the xylem; (b) fibres of extraxylary origin, including those from ovary including the outer integument of the ovary, phloem, bark, ground tissue, and epidermis; and (c) fibres from stems, leaves, roots, seeds, and flowers or inflorescences. Such fibres have many industrial uses, for example in textiles, paper, sacking and boxing material, cordage, brushes and brooms, filling and stuffing, caulking, reinforcement of other materials, and manufacture of cellulose derivatives. In some industries, the term “fibre” is usually inclusive of thick-walled conducting cells such as vessels and tracheids and to fibrillar aggregates of many individual fibre cells. In a preferred embodiment, cotton fibre refers to the lint produced from the cotton boll (seed capsule) that is produced commercially. Cotton fibre also includes the short (about several mm) fibres sometimes referred to as “fuzz fibres”. Preferred fibre producing plants include, but are not limited to, cotton (such as Gossypium arboreum, Gossypium herbaceum, Gossypium barbadense and Gossypium hirsutum), silk cotton tree (Kapok, Ceiba pentandra), desert willow, creosote bush, winterfal, balsa, ramie, kenaf, hemp (Cannabis sativa), roselle, jute, sisal abaca, flax, and horticultural plants such as grape, peach, pear, and apple.

As used herein, a “wild-type plant” is a plant that has not been altered by a method of the invention and/or does not comprise a transgene of the invention. When performing a method of the invention for altering fibre initiation and/or elongation, the manipulated plant is compared to a non-manipulated (“wild-type”) member of the same species to determine the impact of the manipulation on fibre initiation and/or elongation.

In one embodiment, the term “altering fibre initiation and/or elongation” refers to increasing the number and/or size of the fibres. In another embodiment, the term “altering fibre initiation and/or elongation” refers to decreasing the number and/or size of the fibres. In a further embodiment, the term “altering fibre initiation and/or elongation” refers to modifying the timing of fibre initiation and/or elongation during development of the plant, for example to promote earlier or delayed initiation, or to regulate the synchrony of fibre initiation. As a result, in some instances it may be desirable to alter the activity of a molecule described herein to delay anthesis, whereas in other instances it may be desirable to alter the activity of a molecule described herein to promote anthesis.

As used herein, the term “around anthesis” refers to at least about 2 days either side of anthesis. In other words, +/−2 dpa.

As used herein: “transcription factors” modulate the level or timing of transcription of genes in the cells and may be tissue or organ specific; “regulatory proteins” regulate the expression level of genes in the cells, which may be at any of the transcriptional, post-transcriptional (e.g. stability of transcripts) or translational levels, and so encompass transcription factors; whereas “cell cycle proteins” are proteins that promote or retard cell division or processes leading to cell division. In this context, cell cycle proteins include proteins that promote DNA endoduplication. Transcription factors, regulatory proteins, or a cell cycle proteins, are also generally grouped herein as “anthesis regulatory proteins”.

Detection of Impaired Genes and/or Gene Expression Levels

Any molecular biological technique known in the art which is capable of detecting a polymorphism/mutation/genetic variation or differential gene expression can be used in the methods of the present invention. Such methods include, but are not limited to, the use of nucleic acid amplification, nucleic acid sequencing, nucleic acid hybridization with suitably labeled probes, single-strand conformational analysis (SSCA), denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), heteroduplex analysis (HET), chemical cleavage analysis (CCM), catalytic nucleic acid cleavage, or a combination thereof (see, for example, Lemieux, 2000). The invention also includes the use of molecular marker techniques to detect polymorphisms closely linked to genes of the invention. Such methods include the detection or analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP), RAPD, amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) and microsatellite (simple sequence repeat, SSR) polymorphisms. The closely linked markers can be obtained readily by methods well known in the art, such as Bulked Segregant Analysis.

The “polymerase chain reaction” (“PCR”) is a reaction in which replicate copies are made of a target polynucleotide using a “pair of primers” or “set of primers” consisting of “upstream” and a “downstream” primer, and a catalyst of polymerization, such as a DNA polymerase, and typically a thermally-stable polymerase enzyme. Methods for PCR are known in the art, and are taught, for example, in “PCR” (Ed. M. J. McPherson and S. G Moller (2000) BIOS Scientific Publishers Ltd, Oxford). PCR can be performed on cDNA obtained from reverse transcribing mRNA isolated from plant cells expressing, or that should be expressing, a gene of the invention. However, it will generally be easier if PCR is performed on genomic DNA isolated from a plant.

A primer is an oligonucleotide, usually of about 20 nucleotides long, with a minimum of about 15 and a maximum of about 50 nucleotides, that is capable of hybridising in a sequence specific fashion to the target sequence and being extended during the PCR. Amplicons or PCR products or PCR fragments or amplification products are extension products that comprise the primer and the newly synthesized copies of the target sequences. Multiplex PCR systems contain multiple sets of primers that result in simultaneous production of more than one amplicon. Primers may be perfectly matched to the target sequence or they may contain internal mismatched bases that can result in the induction of restriction enzyme or catalytic nucleic acid recognition/cleavage sites in specific target sequences. Primers may also contain additional sequences and/or modified or labelled nucleotides to facilitate capture or detection of amplicons. Repeated cycles of heat denaturation of the DNA, annealing of primers to their complementary sequences and extension of the annealed primers with polymerase result in exponential amplification of the target sequence. The terms target or target sequence or template refer to nucleic acid sequences which are amplified.

Methods for direct sequencing of nucleotide sequences are well known to those skilled in the art and can be found for example in Ausubel et al., eds., Short Protocols in Molecular Biology, 3rd ed., Wiley, (1995) and Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning, 2nd ed., Chap. 13, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, (1989). Sequencing can be carried out by any suitable method, for example, dideoxy sequencing, chemical sequencing or variations thereof. Direct sequencing has the advantage of determining variation in any base pair of a particular sequence.

Hybridization based detection systems include, but are not limited to, the TaqMan assay and molecular beacons. The TaqMan assay (U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,233) uses allele specific (ASO) probes with a donor dye on one end and an acceptor dye on the other end such that the dye pair interact via fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). A target sequence is amplified by PCR modified to include the addition of the labeled ASO probe. The PCR conditions are adjusted so that a single nucleotide difference will effect binding of the probe. Due to the 5′ nuclease activity of the Taq polymerase enzyme, a perfectly complementary probe is cleaved during PCR while a probe with a single mismatched base is not cleaved. Cleavage of the probe dissociates the donor dye from the quenching acceptor dye, greatly increasing the donor fluorescence.

An alternative to the TaqMan assay is the molecular beacon assay (U.S. Pat. No. 5,925,517). In the molecular beacon assay, the ASO probes contain complementary sequences flanking the target specific species so that a hairpin structure is formed. The loop of the hairpin is complimentary to the target sequence while each arm of the hairpin contains either donor or acceptor dyes. When not hybridized to a donor sequence, the hairpin structure brings the donor and acceptor dye close together thereby extinguishing the donor fluorescence. When hybridized to the specific target sequence, however, the donor and acceptor dyes are separated with an increase in fluorescence of up to 900 fold. Molecular beacons can be used in conjunction with amplification of the target sequence by PCR and provide a method for real time detection of the presence of target sequences or can be used after amplification.

Marker assisted selection is a well recognised method of selecting for heterozygous plants required when backcrossing with a recurrent parent in a classical breeding program. The population of plants in each backcross generation will be heterozygous for the gene of interest, normally present in a 1:1 ratio in a backcross population, and the molecular marker can be used to distinguish the two alleles. By extracting DNA from, for example, young leaves or shoots and testing with a specific marker for the introgressed desirable trait, early selection of plants for further backcrossing is made whilst energy and resources are concentrated on fewer plants.

Polypeptides

By “substantially purified polypeptide” we mean a polypeptide that has been at least partially separated from the lipids, nucleic acids, other polypeptides, and other contaminating molecules with which it is associated in its native state. Preferably, the substantially purified polypeptide is at least 60% free, preferably at least 75% free, and most preferably at least 90% free from other components with which they are naturally associated. Furthermore, the term “polypeptide” is used interchangeably herein with the term “protein”.

The % identity of a polypeptide is determined by GAP (Needleman and Wunsch, 1970) analysis (GCG program) with a gap creation penalty=5, and a gap extension penalty=0.3. Unless stated otherwise, the query sequence is at least 15 amino acids in length, and the GAP analysis aligns the two sequences over a region of at least 15 amino acids. Mare preferably, the query sequence is at least 50 amino acids in length, and the GAP analysis aligns the two sequences over a region of at least 50 amino acids. Even more preferably, the query sequence is at least 100 amino acids in length and the GAP analysis aligns the two sequences over a region of at least 100 amino acids.

As used herein, the term “biologically active fragment” refers to a portion of the defined polypeptide/enzyme which still maintains the ability to regulate fibre initiation and/or elongation. Such biologically active fragments can readily be determined by serial deletions of the full length protein, and testing the activity of the resulting fragment.

Amino acid sequence mutants of the polypeptides of the present invention can be prepared by introducing appropriate nucleotide changes into a nucleic acid of the present invention, or by in vitro synthesis of the desired polypeptide. Such mutants include, for example, deletions, insertions or substitutions of residues within the amino acid sequence. A combination of deletion, insertion and substitution can be made to arrive at the final construct, provided that the final protein product possesses the desired characteristics.

In designing amino acid sequence mutants, the location of the mutation site and the nature of the mutation will depend on characteristic(s) to be modified. The sites for mutation can be modified individually or in series, e.g., by (1) substituting first with conservative amino acid choices and then with more radical selections depending upon the results achieved, (2) deleting the target residue, or (3) inserting other residues adjacent to the located site.

Amino acid sequence deletions generally range from about 1 to 30 residues, more preferably about 1 to 10 residues and typically about 1 to 5 contiguous residues.

Substitution mutants have at least one amino acid residue in the polypeptide molecule removed and a different residue inserted in its place. The sites of greatest interest for substitutional mutagenesis include sites identified as the active or binding site(s). Other sites of interest are those in which particular residues obtained from various strains or species are identical. These positions may be important for biological activity. These sites, especially those falling within a sequence of at least three other identically conserved sites, are preferably substituted in a relatively conservative manner. Such conservative substitutions are shown in Table 1.

Furthermore, if desired, unnatural amino acids or chemical amino acid analogues can be introduced as a substitution or addition into the polypeptides of the present invention. Such amino acids include, but are not limited to, the D-isomers of the common amino acids, 2,4-diaminobutyric acid, α-amino isobutyric acid, 4-aminobutyric acid, 2-aminobutyric acid, 6-amino hexanoic acid, 2-amino isobutyric acid, 3-amino propionic acid, ornithine, norleucine, norvaline, hydroxyproline, sarcosine, citrulline, homocitrulline, cysteic acid, t-butylglycine, t-butylalanine, phenylglycine, cyclohexylalanine, β-alanine, fluoro-amino acids, designer amino acids such as βmethyl amino acids, Cα-methyl amino acids, Nα-methyl amino acids, and amino acid analogues in general.

Also included within the scope of the invention are polypeptides of the present invention which are differentially modified during or after synthesis, e.g., by biotinylation, benzylation, glycosylation, acetylation, phosphorylation, amidation, derivatization by known protecting/blocking groups, proteolytic cleavage, linkage to an antibody molecule or other cellular ligand, etc. These modifications may serve to increase the stability and/or bioactivity of the polypeptide of the invention.

Polypeptides of the present invention can be produced in a variety of ways, including production and recovery of natural proteins, production and recovery of recombinant proteins, and chemical synthesis of the proteins. In one embodiment, an isolated polypeptide of the present invention is produced by culturing a cell capable of expressing the polypeptide under conditions effective to produce the polypeptide, and recovering the polypeptide. A preferred cell to culture is a recombinant cell of the present invention. Effective culture conditions include, but are not limited to, effective media, bioreactor, temperature, pH and oxygen conditions that permit protein production. An effective medium refers to any medium in which a cell is cultured to produce a polypeptide of the present invention. Such medium typically comprises an aqueous medium having assimilable carbon, nitrogen and phosphate sources, and appropriate salts, minerals, metals and other nutrients, such as vitamins. Cells of the present invention can be cultured in conventional fermentation bioreactors, shake flasks, test tubes, microliter dishes, and petri plates. Culturing can be carried out at a temperature, pH and oxygen content appropriate for a recombinant cell. Such culturing conditions are within the expertise of one of ordinary skill in the art.

TABLE 1 Exemplary substitutions. Original Exemplary Residue Substitutions Ala (A) val; leu; ile; gly Arg (R) lys Asn (N) gln; his Asp (D) glu Cys (C) ser Gln (Q) asn; his Glu (E) asp Gly (G) pro, ala His (H) asn; gln Ile (I) leu; val; ala Leu (L) ile; val; met; ala; phe Lys (K) arg Met (M) leu; phe Phe (F) leu; val; ala Pro (P) gly Ser (S) thr Thr (T) ser Trp (W) tyr Tyr (Y) trp; phe Val (V) ile; leu; met; phe, ala

In a preferred embodiment, the polypeptides of the invention are transcription factors, regulatory proteins, or proteins that regulate the cell-cycle in the fibre producing plant. The transcription factors may be Myb transcription factors or homeodomain containing transcription factors, which are classes well known in the art.

Polynucleotides

By an “isolated polynucleotide”, including DNA, RNA, or a combination of these, single or double stranded, in the sense or antisense orientation or a combination of both, dsRNA or otherwise, we mean a polynucleotide which is at least partially separated from the polynucleotide sequences with which it is associated or linked in its native state. Preferably, the isolated polynucleotide is at least 60% free, preferably at least 75% free, and most preferably at least 90% free from other components with which they are naturally associated. Furthermore, the term “polynucleotide” is used interchangeably herein with the term “nucleic acid molecule”.

The % identity of a polynucleotide is determined by GAP (Needleman and Wunsch, 1970) analysis (GCG program) with a gap creation penalty=5, and a gap extension penalty=0.3. Unless stated otherwise, the query sequence is at least 45 nucleotides in length, and the GAP analysis aligns the two sequences over a region of at least 45 nucleotides. Preferably, the query sequence is at least 150 nucleotides in length, and the GAP analysis aligns the two sequences over a region of at least 150 nucleotides. More preferably, the query sequence is at least 300 nucleotides in length and the GAP analysis aligns the two sequences over a region of at least 300 nucleotides.

Whilst reasonable avenues have been pursued in an attempt to identify prior art, such as EST-type database entries, which disclose polynucleotides/polypeptides related to those of the claimed invention and ensure that such prior art molecules are excluded from the claims, there is the possibility that some relevant molecules have not been located. Such further prior art molecules (whether they be polynucleotides and/or polypeptides), if they exist, are also excluded from the polynucleotide or polypeptide claims of the invention.

Oligonucleotides of the present invention can be RNA, DNA, or derivatives of either. The minimum size of such oligonucleotides is the size required for the formation of a stable hybrid between an oligonucleotide and a complementary sequence on a nucleic acid molecule of the present invention. Preferably, the oligonucleotides are at least 15 nucleotides, more preferably at least 18 nucleotides, more preferably at least 19 nucleotides, more preferably at least 20 nucleotides, even more preferably at least 25 nucleotides in length. The present invention includes oligonucleotides that can be used as, for example, probes to identify nucleic acid molecules, primers to produce nucleic acid molecules or as agents to modify fibre initiation and/or elongation (e.g., as antisense-, triplex formation-, ribozyme- and/or RNA drug-based reagents). Oligonucleotide of the present invention used as a probe are typically conjugated with a label such as a radioisotope, an enzyme, biotin, a fluorescent molecule or a chemiluminescent molecule.

Polynucleotides and oligonucleotides of the present invention include those which hybridize under stringent conditions to a sequence provided as SEQ ID NO's: 17 to 45. As used herein, stringent conditions are those that (1) employ low ionic strength and high temperature for washing, for example, 0.015 M NaCl/0.0015 M sodium citrate/0.1% NaDodSO₄ at 50° C.; (2) employ during hybridisation a denaturing agent such as formamide, for example, 50% (vol/vol) formamide with 0.1% bovine serum albumin, 0.1% Ficoll, 0.1% polyvinylpyrrolidone, 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer at pH 6.5 with 750 mM NaCl, 75 mM sodium citrate at 42° C.; or (3) employ 50% formamide, 5×SSC (0.75 M NaCl, 0.075 M sodium citrate), 50 mM sodium phosphate (pH 6.8), 0.1% sodium pyrophosphate, 5×Denhardt's solution, sonicated salmon sperm DNA (50 g/ml), 0.1% SDS and 10% dextran sulfate at 42° C. in 0.2×SSC and 0.1% SDS.

Polynucleotides of the present invention may possess, when compared to naturally occurring molecules, one or more mutations which are deletions, insertions, or substitutions of nucleotide residues. Mutants can be either naturally occurring (that is to say, isolated from a natural source) or synthetic (for example, by performing site-directed mutagenesis on the nucleic acid).

Antisense Polynucleotides

The term “antisense nucleic acid” shall be taken to mean DNA or RNA, or combination thereof, molecule that is complementary to at least a portion of a specific mRNA molecule of the invention and capable of interfering with a post-transcriptional event such as mRNA translation. The use of antisense methods is well known in the art (see for example, G. Hartmann and S. Endres, Manual of Antisense Methodology, Kluwer (1999)). The use of antisense techniques in plants has been reviewed by Bourque (1995) and Senior (1998). Bourque lists a large number of examples of how antisense sequences have been utilized in plant systems as a method of gene inactivation. She also states that attaining 100% inhibition of any enzyme activity may not be necessary as partial inhibition will more than likely result in measurable change in the system. Senior (1998) states that antisense methods are now a very well established technique for manipulating gene expression.

Antisense molecules may include sequences that correspond to the structural genes or for sequences that effect control over the gene expression or splicing event. For example, the antisense sequence may correspond to the targeted coding region of the genes of the invention, or the 5′-untranslated region (UTR) or the 3′-UTR or combination of these. It may be complementary in part to intron sequences, which may be spliced out during or after transcription, preferably only to exon sequences of the target gene. In view of the generally greater divergence of the UTRs, targeting these regions provides greater specificity of gene inhibition. The length of the antisense sequence should be at least 19 contiguous nucleotides, preferably at least 50 nucleotides, and more preferably at least 100, 200, 500 or 1000 nucleotides. The full-length sequence complementary to the entire gene transcript may be used. The length is most preferably 100-2000 nucleotides. The degree of identity of the antisense sequence to the targeted transcript should be at least 85%, preferably at least 90% and more preferably 95-100%. The antisense RNA molecule may of course comprise unrelated sequences which may function to stabilize the molecule.

Catalytic Polynucleotides

The term catalytic polynucleotide/nucleic acid refers to a DNA molecule or DNA-containing molecule (also known in the art as a “deoxyribozyme”) or an RNA or RNA-containing molecule (also known as a “ribozyme”) which specifically recognizes a distinct substrate and catalyzes the chemical modification of this substrate. The nucleic acid bases in the catalytic nucleic acid can be bases A, C, G, T (and U for RNA).

Typically, the catalytic nucleic acid contains an antisense sequence for specific recognition of a target nucleic acid, and a nucleic acid cleaving enzymatic activity (also referred to herein as the “catalytic domain”). The types of ribozymes that are particularly useful in this invention are the hammerhead ribozyme (Haseloff and Gerlach, 1988, Perriman et al., 1992) and the hairpin ribozyme (Shippy et al., 1999).

The ribozymes of this invention and DNA encoding the ribozymes can be chemically synthesized using methods well known in the art. The ribozymes can also be prepared from a DNA molecule (that upon transcription, yields an RNA molecule) operably linked to an RNA polymerase promoter, e.g., the promoter for T7 RNA polymerase or SP6 RNA polymerase. Accordingly, also provided by this invention is a nucleic acid molecule, i.e., DNA or cDNA, coding for the ribozymes of this invention. When the vector also contains an RNA polymerase promoter operably linked to the DNA molecule, the ribozyme can be produced in vitro upon incubation with RNA polymerase and nucleotides. In a separate embodiment, the DNA can be inserted into an expression cassette or transcription cassette. After synthesis, the RNA molecule can be modified by ligation to a DNA molecule having the ability to stabilize the ribozyme and make it resistant to RNase.

RNA Interference

RNA interference (RNAi) is particularly useful for specifically inhibiting the production of a particular protein. Although not wishing to be limited by theory, Waterhouse et al. (1998) have provided a model for the mechanism by which dsRNA can be used to reduce protein production. This technology relies on the presence of dsRNA molecules that contain a sequence that is essentially identical to the mRNA of the gene of interest or part thereof, in this case an mRNA encoding a polypeptide according to the invention. Conveniently, the dsRNA can be produced from a single promoter in a recombinant vector or host cell, where the sense and anti-sense sequences are flanked by an unrelated sequence which enables the sense and anti-sense sequences to hybridize to form the dsRNA molecule with the unrelated sequence forming a loop structure. The design and production of suitable dsRNA molecules for the present invention is well within the capacity of a person skilled in the art, particularly considering Waterhouse et al. (1998), Smith et al. (2000), WO 99/32619, WO 99/53050, WO 99/49029, and WO 01/34815.

In one example a DNA is introduced that directs the synthesis of an at least partly double stranded RNA product(s) with homology to the target gene to be inactivated. The DNA therefore comprises both sense and antisense sequences that, when transcribed into RNA, can hybridize to form the double-stranded RNA region. In a preferred embodiment, the sense and antisense sequences are separated by a spacer region that comprises an intron which, when transcribed into RNA, is spliced out. This arrangement has been shown to result in a higher efficiency of gene silencing. The double-stranded region may comprise one or two RNA molecules, transcribed from either one DNA region or two. The presence of the double stranded molecule is thought to trigger a response from an endogenous plant system that destroys both the double stranded RNA and also the homologous RNA transcript from the target plant gene, efficiently reducing or eliminating the activity of the target gene. The length of the sense and antisense sequences that hybridise should each be at least 19 contiguous nucleotides, preferably at least 30 or 50 nucleotides, and more preferably at least 100, 200, 500 or 1000 nucleotides. The full-length sequence corresponding to the entire gene transcript may be used. The lengths are most preferably 100-2000 nucleotides. The degree of identity of the sense and antisense sequences to the targeted transcript should be at least 85%, preferably at least 90% and more preferably 95-100%. The RNA molecule may of course comprise unrelated sequences which may function to stabilize the molecule. The RNA molecule may be expressed under the control of a RNA polymerase II or RNA polymerase III promoter. Examples of the latter include tRNA or snRNA promoters.

Preferred small interfering RNA (‘siRNA”) molecules comprise a nucleotide sequence that is identical to about 19-21 contiguous nucleotides of the target mRNA. Preferably, the target mRNA sequence commences with the dinucleotide AA, comprises a GC-content of about 30-70% (preferably, 30-60%, more preferably 40-60% and more preferably about 45%-55%), and does not have a high percentage identity to any nucleotide sequence other than the target in the genome of the plant (preferably cotton) in which it is to be introduced, e.g., as determined by standard BLAST search.

Preferred loop (single stranded”) sequences are selected from, but not limited to, the group consisting of:

(i) CCC; (SEQ ID NO: 58) (ii) UUCG; (SEQ ID NO: 59) (iii) CCACC; (SEQ ID NO: 60) (iv) CUCGAG; (SEQ ID NO: 61) (v) AAGCUU; (SEQ ID NO: 62) (vi) CCACACC; (SEQ ID NO: 63) and (vii) UUCAAGAGA. (SEQ ID NO: 64)

Another molecular biological approach that may be used is co-suppression. The ism of co-suppression is not well understood but is thought to involve post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) and in that regard may be very similar to many examples of antisense suppression. It involves introducing an extra copy of a gene or a fragment thereof into a plant in the sense orientation with respect to a promoter for its expression. The size of the sense fragment, its correspondence to target gene regions, and its degree of homology to the target gene are as for the antisense sequences described above. In some instances the additional copy of the gene sequence interferes with the expression of the target plant gene. Reference is made to Patent specification WO 97/20936 and European patent specification 0465572 for methods of implementing co-suppression approaches. The antisense, cosuppression or double stranded RNA molecules may also comprise a largely double-stranded RNA region, preferably comprising a nuclear localization signal, as described in WO 03/076619. In a preferred embodiment, the largely double-stranded region is derived from a PSTVd type viroid or comprises at least 35 CUG trinucleotide repeats.

Transgenic Plants

The term “plant” refers to whole plants, plant organs (e.g. leaves, stems roots, etc), seeds, plant cells and the like. Plants contemplated for use in the practice of the present invention include both monocotyledons and dicotyledons. Preferably, the plant is a horticultural plant or cotton.

The term “cotton” as used herein includes any species of the genus Gossypium which is used for commercial fibre production, preferably G. hirsutum or G. barbadense.

Transgenic plants, as defined in the context of the present invention include plants (as well as parts and cells of said plants) and their progeny which have been genetically modified using recombinant techniques. This would generally be to either i) cause or enhance production of at least one protein of the present invention in the desired plant or plant organ, or ii) disrupt the production and/or activity of a polypeptide of the present invention. Transformed plants contain genetic material that they did not contain prior to the transformation. The genetic material is preferably stably integrated into the genome of the plant. The introduced genetic material may comprise sequences that naturally occur in the same species but in a rearranged order or in a different arrangement of elements, for example an antisense sequence. Such plants are included herein in “transgenic plants”. A “non-transgenic plant” is one which has not been genetically modified with the introduction of genetic material by recombinant DNA techniques.

Several techniques exist for introducing foreign genetic material into a plant cell. Such techniques include acceleration of genetic material coated onto microparticles directly into cells (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,050 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,131). Plants may be transformed using Agrobacterium technology (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,177,010, U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,310, U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,863, U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,135). Electroporation technology has also been used to transform plants (see, for example, WO 87/06614, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,472,869, 5,384,253, WO 92/09696 and WO 93/21335). In addition to numerous technologies for transforming plants, the type of tissue which is contacted with the foreign genes may vary as well. Such tissue would include but would not be limited to embryogenic tissue, callus tissue type I and II, hypocotyl, meristem, and the like. Almost all plant tissues may be transformed during development and/or differentiation using appropriate techniques described herein.

A particularly preferred method of producing a transgenic cotton plant is by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of cotyledons, followed by the induction of callus formation, and the subsequent induction of embryogenic callus, and regeneration into plants.

A number of vectors suitable for stable transfection of plant cells or for the establishment of transgenic plants have been described in, e.g., Pouwels et al., Cloning Vectors: A Laboratory Manual, 1985, supp. 1987; Weissbach and Weissbach, Methods for Plant Molecular Biology, Academic Press, 1989; and Gelvin et al., Plant Molecular Biology Manual, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1990. Typically, plant expression vectors include, for example, one or more cloned plant genes under the transcriptional control of 5′ and 3′ regulatory sequences and a dominant selectable marker. Such plant expression vectors also can contain a promoter regulatory region (e.g., a regulatory region controlling inducible or constitutive, environmentally- or developmentally-regulated, or cell- or tissue-specific expression), a transcription initiation start site, a ribosome binding site, an RNA processing signal, a transcription termination site, and/or a polyadenylation signal.

Examples of plant promoters include, but are not limited to ribulose-1,6-bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit, beta-conglycinin promoter, phaseolin promoter, high molecular weight glutenin (HMW-GS) promoters, starch biosynthetic gene promoters, ADH promoter, heat-shock promoters and tissue specific promoters. Promoters may also contain certain enhancer sequence elements that may improve the transcription efficiency. Typical enhancers include but are not limited to Adh-intron and Adh-intron 6.

Constitutive promoters direct continuous gene expression in all cells types and at all times (e.g., actin, ubiquitin, CaMV 35S). Tissue specific promoters are responsible for gene expression in specific cell or tissue types, such as the leaves or seeds (e.g., zein, oleosin, napin, ACP, globulin and the like) and these promoters may also be used. Promoters may also be active during a certain stage of the plants' development as well as active in plant tissues and organs. Examples of such promoters include but are not limited to pollen-specific, embryo specific, corn silk specific, cotton fibre specific, root specific, seed endosperm specific promoters and the like.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the promoter directs expression around anthesis which is when fibre initiation and elongation occur. Thus, it is preferred that the promoter is an ovule or fibre specific promoter. Examples include promoters described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,070, U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,148 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,321.

Under certain circumstances it may be desirable to use an inducible promoter. An inducible promoter is responsible for expression of genes in response to a specific signal, such as: physical stimulus (heat shock genes); light (RUBP carboxylase); hormone (Em); metabolites; and stress. Other desirable transcription and translation elements that function in plants may be used.

In addition to plant promoters, promoters from a variety of sources can be used efficiently in plant cells to express foreign genes. For example, promoters of bacterial origin, such as the octopine synthase promoter, the nopaline synthase promoter, the mannopine synthase promoter, promoters of viral origin, such as the cauliflower mosaic virus (35S and 19S) and the like may be used.

Vectors

One embodiment of the present invention includes a recombinant vector, which includes at least one isolated polynucleotide molecule of the present invention inserted into any vector capable of delivering the nucleic acid molecule into a host cell. Such a vector contains heterologous nucleic acid sequences, that is nucleic acid sequences that are not naturally found adjacent to nucleic acid molecules of the present invention and that preferably are derived from a species other than the species from which the nucleic acid molecule(s) are derived. The vector can be either RNA or DNA, either prokaryotic or eukaryotic, and typically is a virus or a plasmid.

One type of recombinant vector comprises a nucleic acid molecule of the present invention operatively linked to an expression vector. The phrase operatively linked refers to insertion of a nucleic acid molecule into an expression vector in a manner such that the molecule is able to be expressed when transformed into a host cell. As used herein, an expression vector is a DNA or RNA vector that is capable of transforming a host cell and effecting expression of a specified nucleic acid molecule. Preferably, the expression vector is also capable of replicating within the host cell. Expression vectors can be either prokaryotic or eukaryotic, and are typically viruses or plasmids. Expression vectors of the present invention include any vectors that function (i.e., direct gene expression) in recombinant cells of the present invention, including in bacterial, fungal, endoparasite, arthropod, other animal, and plant cells. Preferred expression vectors of the present invention can direct gene expression in plant cells.

In particular, expression vectors of the present invention contain regulatory sequences such as transcription control sequences, translation control sequences, origins of replication, and other regulatory sequences that are compatible with the recombinant cell and that control the expression of nucleic acid molecules of the present invention. In particular, recombinant molecules of the present invention include transcription control sequences. Transcription control sequences are sequences which control the initiation, elontion, and termination of transcription. Particularly important transcription control sequences are those which control transcription initiation, such as promoter, enhancer, operator and repressor sequences. Suitable transcription control sequences include any transcription control sequence that can function in at least one of the recombinant cells of the present invention. A variety of such transcription control sequences are known to those skilled in the art.

Another embodiment of the present invention includes a recombinant cell comprising a host cell transformed with one or more recombinant molecules of the present invention. Transformation of a nucleic acid molecule into a cell can be accomplished by any method by which a nucleic acid molecule can be inserted into the cell. Transformation techniques include, but are not limited to, transfection, electroporation, microinjection, lipofection, adsorption, and protoplast fusion. A recombinant cell may remain unicellular or may grow into a tissue, organ or a multicellular organism. Transformed nucleic acid molecules of the present invention can remain extrachromosomal or can integrate into one or more sites within a chromosome of the transformed (i.e., recombinant) cell in such a manner that their ability to be expressed is retained.

Host Cells

Suitable host cells to transform include any cell that can be transformed with a polynucleotide of the present invention. Host cells can be either untransformed cells or cells that are already transformed with at least one nucleic acid molecule (e.g., nucleic acid molecules encoding one or more proteins of the present invention). Host cells of the present invention either can be endogenously (i.e., naturally) capable of producing proteins of the present invention or can be capable of producing such proteins after being transformed with at least one nucleic acid molecule of the present invention. Host cells of the present invention can be any cell capable of producing at least one protein of the present invention, and include bacterial, fungal (including yeast), parasite, arthropod, animal and plant cells. Preferred host cells are plant cells, in particular cotton cells. In a preferred embodiment, the cells are ovule cells such as the cells of the outer integument of cotton ovules.

Antibodies

The invention also provides monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies to polypeptides of the invention or fragments thereof. Thus, the present invention further provides a process for the production of monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies to polypeptides of the invention.

The term “binds specifically” refers to the ability of the antibody to bind to proteins of the present invention but not other proteins obtained of the plant.

As used herein, the term “epitope” refers to a region of a protein of the invention which is bound by the antibody. An epitope can be administered to an animal to generate antibodies against the epitope, however, antibodies of the present invention preferably specifically bind the epitope region in the context of the entire protein.

If polyclonal antibodies are desired, a selected mammal (e.g., mouse, rabbit, goat, horse, etc.) is immunised with an immunogenic polypeptide. Serum from the immunised animal is collected and treated according to known procedures. If serum containing polyclonal antibodies contains antibodies to other antigens, the polyclonal antibodies can be purified by immunoaffinity chromatography. Techniques for producing and processing polyclonal antisera are known in the art. In order that such antibodies may be made, the invention also provides polypeptides of the invention or fragments thereof haptenised to another polypeptide for use as immunogens in animals or humans.

Monoclonal antibodies directed against polypeptides of the invention can also be readily produced by one skilled in the art. The general methodology for making monoclonal antibodies by hybridomas is well known. Immortal antibody-producing cell lines can be created by cell fusion, and also by other techniques such as direct transformation of B lymphocytes with oncogenic DNA, or transfection with Epstein-Barr virus. Panels of monoclonal antibodies produced can be screened for various properties; i.e., for isotype and epitope affinity.

An alternative technique involves screening phage display libraries where, for example the phage express scFv fragments on the surface of their coat with a large variety of complementarity determining regions (CDRs). This technique is in the art.

For the purposes of this invention, the term “antibody”, unless specified to the contrary, includes fragments of whole antibodies which retain their binding activity for a target antigen. Such fragments include Fv, F(ab′) and F(ab′)₂ fragments, as well as single chain antibodies (scFv). Furthermore, the antibodies and fragments thereof may be humanised antibodies, for example as described in EP-A-239400.

Antibodies of the invention may be bound to a solid support and/or packaged into kits in a suitable container along with suitable reagents, controls, instructions and the like.

Preferably, antibodies of the present invention are detectably labeled. Exemplary detectable labels that allow for direct measurement of antibody binding include radiolabels, fluorophores, dyes, magnetic beads, chemiluminescers, colloidal particles, and the like. Examples of labels which permit indirect measurement of binding include enzymes where the substrate may provide for a coloured or fluorescent product. Additional exemplary detectable labels include covalently bound enzymes capable of providing a detectable product signal after addition of suitable substrate. Examples of suitable enzymes for use in conjugates include horseradish peroxidase, alkaline phosphatase, malate dehydrogenase and the like. Where not commercially available, such antibody-enzyme conjugates are readily produced by techniques known to those skilled in the art. Further exemplary detectable labels include biotin, which binds with high affinity to avidin or streptavidin; fluorochromes (e.g., phycobiliproteins, phycoerythrin and allophycocyanins; fluorescein and Texas red), which can be used with a fluorescence activated cell sorter; haptens; and the like. Preferably, the detectable label allows for direct measurement in a plate luminometer, e.g., biotin. Such labeled antibodies can be used in techniques known in the art to detect proteins of the invention.

Assessing Fibre Properties

Fibres produced from plants of the invention are compared to control fibres (e.g., fibres from wild-type plants or plants transformed with marker nucleic acids) to determine the extent of modulation of fibre properties. Modulation of fibre properties, such as fibre number, length, strength, or fineness, is achieved when the percent difference in these fibre properties of the plants of the invention and control plants is at least about 10%, preferably at least about 20%, most preferably at least about 30%.

Several parameters can be measured to compare the properties or quality of fibres produced from plants of the invention to wild-type plants. These include: 1) fibre number, 2) fibre length; 3) fibre strength; and 4) fineness of fibres. A number of methods are known in the art to measure these parameters, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,070. For example, instruments such as a fibrograph and HVI (high volume instrumentation) systems can be used to measure the length of fibres. The HVI systems can also be used to measure fibre strength. Fibre strength generally refers to the force required to break a bundle of fibres or a single fibre. In HVI testing, the breaking force is expressed in terms of “grams force per tex unit.” This is the force required to break a bundle of fibres that is one tex unit in size. In addition, fineness of fibres can be measured, e.g., from a porous air flow test. In a porous air flow test, a weighed sample of fibres is compressed to a given volume and controlled air flow is passed through the sample. The resistance to the air flow is read as micronaire units. More specifically, the micronaire value is a measurement of cotton fibre quality that is a reflection of both fineness and maturity; low values indicate fine and/or immature fibre; high values indicate coarse and/or mature fibres. These values are determined according to standard techniques by measuring the resistance offered by a plug of cotton to airflow (supra) that is influenced by a combination of fineness and maturity. Fineness is the outside diameter of the fibre that is measured in mTex (Millitex or mg/km). Maturity is the degree of wall thickening of the fibre. Short fibre count (w) % refers to the percentage of short fibre weight; short fibre count (n) % refers to the percentage of short fibre yield. Immature fibre count refers to the number of immature fibres, i.e., fibres in which the thickening of the fibre wall is appreciably less than normal. An increase in fibre yield (fibre weight/seed) can be measured by using the Advanced Fibre Information System (AFIS). Using these and other methods known in the art, one of skill can readily determine the extent of modulation of fibre characteristics, quality and/or yield plants produced by the methods of the invention.

EXAMPLES Example 1 Comparison of Fibre Initials Development in Wild-Type and Linden Mutants of Cotton

To identify genes that were specific to fibre initiation, genes were identified that were differentially expressed in early stage fertilised ovules of wild-type and lintless mutants of cotton that produce little if any fibres. The cotton lines (Gossypium hirsutum L.) used included two wild type cotton lines: Deltapine 16 (DP16) and Xu-142, and 6 Hatless lines: Lintless 1A, Lintless 4A, Lintless 5B, Lintless 5B, SL1-7-1 and fl. The 1A, 4A, 5B, 53 lines were obtained from the Queensland Department of Primary Industry Tropical Crops and Pastures Germplasm Collection and were originally selections from a tinted cultivar B1278 isolated by Dr Alistair Low (unpublished, CSIRO Irrigation Research, Griffith, NSW). SL1-7-1 was obtained from USDA-ARS (College Station, Tex., USA). The Fuzzless-lintless, fl, isolated from Xu-142 background, and Xu-142 were provided by Prof. Xiao-Ya Chen (Institute of Plant Physiology, Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai, China). All the cotton lines were grown in a glasshouse with temperature of 30° C./22° C. (day/night). Ovules were always collected at a similar time each day (1-3 pm) and samples to be compared on a microarray were only used when they were collected on the same date and from the same glasshouse to minimise between time or location variability.

The mutants were of varying provenance but it is not known whether they are allelic. The four lines Lintless 1A, Lintless 4A, Lintless 5B, Lintless 53 were originally separate selections from a fully tinted cultivar B1278 as spontaneous mutants that showed low but differing levels of lint production isolated as part of a breeding program to produce a cultivar with high quality seed oil and protein but with only a small amount of lint to retain the seeds in the boll capsule (Alistair Low, unpublished). Genetic complementation testing has not yet been carried out. SL 1-7-1 (Mississipi Obsolete Collection Number 0504) was also a naturally occurring variant (Turley and Ferguson, 1996) that produced less lint than the most lintless of the B1278 selections. All the mutant lines, but particularly 5B which had the most lint of any of the lines, show a variable, but low level of leakiness and this may be a result of environmental or physiological influences on lint production. At maturity the seeds of all of the mutant lines exhibit a fuzz-less phenotype (ie they have a completely naked seed and lack the short fuzz fibres covering the ovules of most Upland cotton varieties, including B1278). The growth rate and general vegetative and floral development of the mutants were similar to the wild type except that lintless 4A was slightly slimmer, and taller (about 20%) than the Deltapine 16 (DP16) variety used as the wildtype, whereas SL 1-7-1 (SL) exhibited higher levels of red anthocyanin pigments in all parts of the plant. All lines produced normal amounts of trichomes on their stems and leaves.

Scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the fibre development of the 5 lintless cotton mutants (Lintless 1A, 4A, 5B, 53 and SL) at two days before anthesis (−2 dpa), the day of anthesis (0 dpa) and two days after anthesis (2 dpa). Cotton ovules were collected using the phyllotactic arrangement of cotton flowering nodes and size of cotton flower buds as indicator of the development stage as described by Hasenfratz et al., (1995). The collected ovules were observed using an Oxford CT 1500 cryotrans system attached to a JEOL 6400 scanning electron microscope as described by Craig and Beaton (1996). There was generally no obvious difference between the mutants and the wild type (DP16) at −2 dpa except that 4A ovules were covered with mucous-like substances. The ovule surfaces were flat and epidermal cells were interspersed with stomata. On the day of anthesis, a few fibre initials became visible on the mutant ovules but these were considerably fewer in number than on wild type ovules. The mucous-like substances covering 4A ovule disappeared at this stage. The mutant phenotype was best revealed at two days post-anthesis when the fibres have begun to elongate. At this time, all of the mutants had a much reduced number of fibre initials on the surface of ovules and those fibres that had developed were slower to elongate and less synchronized in their elongation than the fibre initials of the wild type. The degree of lintlessness varied among the mutants with some lines showing very few fibre initials (Lintless 4A, 1A and 53) and the others more (Lintless 5B and SL-1-7-1), but still considerably fewer than DP16. Early fibre growth was sensitive to environmental conditions demonstrated by the more rapid fibre growth of the wild type cotton grown in glasshouses with a temperature regime of 30° C./22° C. (day/night) than in a glasshouse with temperature of 25° C./15° C.

Example 2 Differential Expression of Genes in the Mutant Ovules Compared to Wild-Type

cDNA Library Construction

CHX cDNA library was constructed using cycloheximide treated ovules. Cotton flower buds of developmental stages of −3 dpa, −2 dpa, −1 dpa and 0 dpa were detached and pooled from glasshouse grown cotton plants and surface sterilized by dipping in 70% ethanol and flaming twice. The cotton ovules were dissected out under sterile conditions and cultured on 15 ml of cotton ovule culture medium (Beasley and Ting, 1973) supplemented with 5 μM IAA (indole acetic acid) and 1 μM GA in 100 ml glass flasks at 29° C. in the dark overnight and then treated with 10 μM cycloheximide for 4 hours under the same culture conditions. After the cycloheximide treatment, the ovules were rinsed with sterile water, stored in RNAlater solution (Anibion) at −20° C. Total RNA was isolated using a method described by Wu et al. (2002). Purification of poly A⁺ mRNA from total RNA was carried out using Qiagen Oligotex mRNA kit (Cat. No. 70042), following the manufacturer's protocol. In vitro translation was carried out to verify the bioactivity of the poly A⁺ RNA (Wu et al. 2002). 5 μg poly A⁺ mRNA from cycloheximide treated ovules was used for cDNA synthesis using a Life Technologies' Superscript Choice system (Cat. Series 18090) following the manufacturer's instructions. The first strand cDNA was synthesized using a mix of 1 μg Oligo(dT)12-18 primer and 50 ng of random hexamers. The EcoRI adapted cDNA was size-fractionated and cDNA longer than 500 bp was randomly cloned in λZipLox EcoRI arms (Life Technology Cat No. 15397-029). This library was comprised of 2×106 primary pfu with average insert size of 1.05 kb.

OCF cDNA library was developed from DP16 0 dpa ovules. The total RNA isolation and poly A⁺ mRNA purification was the same as for CHX library construction. 5 μg poly A⁺ mRNA was used for cDNA synthesis and cDNA library construction using a Life Technologies' Superscript lamda system (Cat. No. 19643-014) following the manufacturer's instructions. The first strand cDNA was synthesized using the Nod primer-adapter, in the presence of 1 μCi [α-³²P] dCTP. The SalI adapted and NolI digested cDNA was size-fractionated and the cDNA longer than 500 bp was directionally cloned in λZipLox NotI-SalI arms (Life Technology Cat No. 15397-029). This primary library was comprised of 5×10⁵ pfu with average insert size of 0.9 kb.

For both CHX and OCF libraries, the cDNA could be recovered in the autonomously-replicating plasmid pZL1 using a in vivo excision protocol provided by Life Technology. Two bacterial strains (Life Technology) were used for the excision: DH10B (ZIP) for the preparation of double stranded plasmid DNA, and DH12S (ZIP) for the preparation of single stranded DNA by infection with helper phage M13K07 (NEW ENGLAND BioLabs).

Normalization of the OCF Library

The OCF library was normalised using a method essentially as described by Bonaldo et al. (1996) with some modifications. Single-stranded plasmid DNA (ssDNA) was prepared from the excised OCF library using helper phage M13K07 (NEW ENGLAND BioLabs) and purified using the Bio-Gel HTP hydroxyapatite (HAP) column (Bio-Rad) according to Ali et al. (2000) with some modifications. The ssDNA was loaded on to a jacketed HAP column (Bio-Rad) at 60° C. and washed with 3 ml 10 mM Na-phosphate. The column was washed with 3 ml 0.16M Na-phosphate buffer and the eluate was collected in small fractions (about) 200 μl) and OD₂₆₀ was measured for each of the fractions. The fractions with the highest OD measurements were pooled and desalted using a Qiaquick PCR purification kit (Qiagen). The driver DNA was prepared from the same excised OCF library by SalI and NotI digestion of the double-stranded plasmid and the gel-separated cDNA fragments (smear on the gel) was purified using a Qiaquick gel extraction kit (Qiagen). Hybridization of driver with ssDNA tracer was performed in the presence of a 5′-blocking oligo (5′-CCCACGCGTCCG-3′) (SEQ ID NO:71), and a 3′-blocking oligo (5′-AAAAAAGGGCGGCC-3′) (SEQ ID NO:72). The hybridization mix comprised 0.5 M NaCl, 10 mM Tris (pH 8.0), 1 mM EDTA, 2 μg double-stranded driver DNA, 0.2 μg ssDNA, 10 μg of each of the blocking oligos, and 25 μl formamide in a total volume of 50 μl. The driver DNA was heat denatured by boiling for 5 min prior to mixing with the rest of the components and the whole hybridisation mix was heated to 65° C. for 3 min and then incubated at 42° C. for 24 hours. The hybridisation mix was run through a HAP column under the same conditions as described for ssDNA purification to separate the ssDNA from the hybridised DNA. The conversion of purified ssDNA into double-stranded plasmid DNA and transformation of competent DH10B (Life Technology) was as described by Ali et al. (2000). The normalized library was designated the ON library consisting 10⁵ primary transformants with average insert size of 0.9 kb.

PCR Amplification of cDNA Clones and Microarray Preparation

The cotton ovule cDNA microarray comprises a total of 10410 cDNA clones. Except for 52 clones encoding known cotton genes provided by colleagues, and 13 clones of negative controls (non-plant genes, intron sequences etc.), the rest of the clones were randomly picked from the CHX, OCF and ON cDNA libraries, including 5496 clones from CHX library, 1149 clones from OCF library and 3700 clones from the ON library.

All the anonymous cDNA clones from the ovule cDNA libraries were PCR amplified in 96 well PCR plates (AB gene). The PCR reaction contained of 2 mM MgCl₂, 0.2 mM each of the dNTPs, 0.2 μM each of the M13/pUC forward and reverse primers, 1 unit Taq F2 DNA polymerase and 1×F2 buffer (BIOTECH International Limited) in a 50 μl reaction with 2 μl overnight cultured bacterial cells as template. A row of 12 samples from each PCR plate was verified by agarose gel electrophoresis. The PCR fragments were ethanol precipitated and resuspended in 10 μl 50% DMSO and 8 μl of the fragments was transferred to 384 well plates for microarray slide printing. The PCR fragments were arrayed onto CMT-GAPS coated microarray slides (Corning) using a Virtek ChipWriter Pro (Virtek Biotech) arrayer. Post-printing slide processing was performed by baking the slides at 80° C. for 3 hours as described in the manufacturer's technical manual.

Microarray Analysis

Cotton ovules used for RNA isolation were kept in RNAlater solution (Ambion) at 4° C. overnight and then stored at −20° C. For separating the ovule outer integument from the inner tissues, ovules stored in RNAlater were used and the separation was performed under a microscope at room temperature. Total RNA isolations were performed using a method described by Wu et al., (2002). Purification of poly A⁺ mRNA from total RNA was carried out using Oligotex mRNA kit (Qiagen, Cat. No. 70042), following the manufacturer's protocol. The cotton ovule cDNA microarray comprises a total of 10410 cDNA clones. Except for 52 clones encoding known cotton genes, the clones were randomly picked from cDNA libraries constructed from DP-16 ovules of −3 dpa to 0 dpa.

For microarray probe labelling, equal amounts of mRNA (0.5-1 μg) of two compared samples were reverse transcribed using Superscript H reverse transcriptase (Life Technologies), using a combination of 1 μg oligo(dT)12-18 primer and 6 μg random primers (Life Technologies) per reaction. The purification and Cy3-dUTP and Cy5-dUTP (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech) labelling of the first strand cDNA was essentially as described by Schenk et al., (2000). The labelled probes were combined and purified using a Qiaquick PCR purification kit. The conditions for slide hybridisation and washing were as described in the manufacturer's instruction manual (Corning, CMT-GAPS coated slides). The microarray images were scanned using a GenePix 4000A microarray scanner (Axon Instruments, Union Calif., USA). A typical microarray comparison consisted of 4 replicates unless otherwise specified. This included two biological replicates and each biological replication contained two dye-swapped hybridisations. In a time course comparison where RNA from DP16 ovules of −4 dpa, −2 dpa and +2 dpa were compared to RNA from 0 dpa DP16 ovules, most comparisons consisted of 4 replications as mentioned above, however, self-comparison of 0 dpa to 0 dpa comprised 3 biological replications.

Scanned microarray images were analysed using the GenePix Pro program (Axon Instruments, Union Calif., USA). Grids were predefined and manually adjusted to ensure optimal spot recognition and bad spots, eg. dust contamination etc., were flagged. Spots were quantified using the GenePix's fixed circle method, and medians of the fluorescence intensity of the red and green channels were used to calculate the ratio of the two channels. The data were log₂ transformed and normalised using a spatial normalization method described by Wilson et al., (2003). The data were then resealed by dividing by an estimate of the median absolute deviation (Wilson et al., 2003) before running the “find differentially expressed gene” function of tRMA (tools for R Microarray Analysis available via http://www.pi.csiro.au/gena/). For a typical microarray comparison that consisted of 4 replications, the “find differentially expressed gene” function of tRMA was used to select differentially expressed genes from each of the replications separately, and the gene lists were then compared and genes occurring in at least 3 of 4 replications were classified as differentially expressed genes for this comparison.

Gene expression in 0 dpa whole ovules of each of the mutants was compared to the wild-type DP16 at the same stage using microarray analysis as described above to identify differentially expressed genes. The number of genes identified are shown in Table 2. Each experiment was replicated a number of times as both biological replicates and dye swap replicates. The total number of cDNA clones that are differentially expressed amongst the mutants compared to the wild-type varied significantly, from an average of 60 clones in the Lintless 4A/DP16 comparison up to an average of 243 clones in the Lintless 53/DP16 comparison. In addition, the proportion of cDNA clones that are up or down-regulated also varied amongst the mutants with 4 mutant lines (1A, 53, 5B and SL) showing a higher number of cDNA clones that were up-regulated than down-regulated, and vise versa for the mutant Lintless 4A. These results may reflect the diverse genetic backgrounds or different genetic lesions of the mutants in addition to the variable amounts of lint produced by each line.

TABLE 2 Number of cDNA clones that are up- or down-regulated in each of the mutants as compared to the wild type Genes Genes Genes Differentially Up in Down in Number of Minimal Comparison Expressed Mutant Mutant Replicates* Reproducibility** 4A/DP16 60  9 (15%) 51 (85%) 8 75% 1A/DP16 67 48 (72%) 19 (28%) 8 75% SL/DP16 102 88 (86%) 14 (14%) 6 83% 5B/DP16 144 91 (63%) 53 (37%) 4 75% 53/DP16 243 199 (82%)  44 (18)  4 75% *Replicates consist both biological and technical replications. Each biological replicate (a RNA isolation) comprises two dye-swaped technical replicates. Number of biological replicates = Total number of replicates/2. **Genes identified as being significantly differentially expressed in at least 6 out of 8 or 3 out of 4 replicates (75%), or 5 out of 6 replicates (83%).

Example 3 Identification of Genes that are Differentially Expressed in Seed Coat Outer Integument of Lintless Mutants

Since the collected embryos described above may already have been pollinated and zygote development initiated, a separate microarray comparison was made between the mRNAs of the outer integument and those of the inner ovule tissues of the wild-type cotton, to filter out those genes that were not expressed specifically in the seed coat outer integument where fibres are initiated. Cotton ovules at 0 dpa are rapidly developing complex organs, composed of at least three separable layers of tissues: the outer integument, the inner integument and the nucellus (including a developing zygote). The genes identified as being differentially expressed in the mutant/wild-type comparisons might be constitutively expressed throughout the whole ovule or they may be expressed in only one or two of the layers. As cotton fibres develop only from the epidermal cells of the outer integument, genes that showed a higher expression level in this layer should be more relevant to fibre initiation and development compared to the genes that are predominantly expressed in the inner integument and nucellus. Outer integuments were therefore separated from the inner integuments and nucellus of 0 dpa wild type ovules by microdissection and labeled cDNA prepared from the partitioned tissues as described above. The gene expression in the outer integument was then compared to that of the inner integument and nucellus by probing the ovule cDNA microarray. The results, averaged over four replicates (two biological replicates each consisting of two dye-swapped technical replicates) revealed a total of 120 cDNA clones that were differentially expressed with 65 clones up-regulated and 55 clones down-regulated in the outer integument of wild type ovules. The list of 65 outer integument up-regulated clones was then used as a filter on the differentially expressed gene lists identified from the lintless mutant/wild type comparisons to select for cDNA clones that were up-regulated in the outer integument. This filtering resulted in the identification of a surprisingly small number of genes: 4, 7, 6, 10, 4 genes from the 1A, 4A, 5B, 53 and SL mutants respectively that were both differentially expressed in mutant/wild type comparisons and up-regulated in the outer integument.

There was significant overlap of the cDNA clones amongst the different mutants and in total only 11 unique cDNA clones were identified from this experiment as potential candidate genes involved in early stage fibre development. The changes in relative expression in each mutant are summarized in Table 3.

Except for clone CHX007D10, which appears to be a chimeric clone, that was up-regulated in mutant Lintless 53, the rest of the clones were all down-regulated in the mutants. Three genes (corresponding to clones ON035F4, ON035N9, ON035C9) were down-regulated in all 5 mutants and the other clones are down-regulated in up to 4 of the mutants. Sequence analysis showed a range of genes that had not been identified or characterized previously as important in early fibre development, including two transcription factors (GhMyb25 and a gene encoding a putative homeodomain protein); a cyclin D3 homolog; a transferase protein; a transmembrane transporter and two genes of unknown biochemical function. For ease of referring to the different genes, we have assigned them gene names that refers to their presumed functions, such as GhHD1 to refer to the cotton homeodomain protein like gene represented by ON035N9 (Table 3).

TABLE 3 Genes that were up- or down-regulated in the lintless mutants and up-regulated in the outer integument^(a) Most Homologous Name Clone No SL/DP 1A/DP 53/DP 4A/DP 5B/DP OI/II^(c) gene^(d) GhMyb25 ON035F4 −5.8 −10.1 −10.8 −10.8 −10.8 4.6 (AF336283) GHMYB25 GhFaEl ON035N9 −5.6 −6.7 −5.7 −7 −5.8 4.7 (NP_195909) Transferase GhFU1 ON035C9 −8.5 −11 −14.1 −15.2 −13.8 2.7 Unknown α-Expansin Pfs14x −6.8 −7.6 −9.1 / −9.1 3.3 (AF512539) Alpha-expansin GhFU2 ON0031F1 / / −5.9 −5.6 −8.2 2.8 Unknown GhHD1 ON033M7 / / / −5.5 −4.9 2.8 (T05850) Homeobox protein ATML1 GhTMTP CHX015K18 / / / −8.1 −4.4 4.7 (NP_175557) ATP- dependent transmembrane transporter GhCycD3; 1 OCF07F4 / / / −5.3 −3.7 4.9 (AAQ19972) Cyclin D3 CHX007D10^(b) CHX007D10 / / 3.2 / / 4.4 (AC084282) Putative protein phosphotase/(BAB 83948) CIG1 GhSus CHX002C10 / / / / −3.5 4.6 (AAD28641) Sucrose synthase GhLTP ON033M19 / / / / −5.9 3.2 (AAM62634) Lipid transfer protein ^(a)The values presented in the table are the medians of Log₂ transformed, normalized and rescaled ratios of the two compared samples. The rescaling was performed by dividing through by an estimate of the median absolute deviation (Wilson et al., 2003). ^(b)Most probably a chimeric clone. ^(c)OI: Outer Integument; II: Inner Integument and Nucellus. ^(d)Most homologous gene based on the top BlastX identity score, with Genbank Accession No. and putative biochemical function.

Example 4 Expression Patterns of Genes in Wild-Type Developing Ovules

RNA from DP16 ovules of −4 dpa, −2 dpa and +2 dpa was compared to RNA from 0 dpa DP16 ovules using microarrays to profile the temporal changes in expression of genes around the time of fibre initiation (DP16 time course). RNA from −2 dpa and +2 dpa ovules from the Lintless 4A mutant, which shows more severe lintless phenotypes amongst the B1278 mutants, was compared with RNA from DP ovules of corresponding stages to reveal the temporal profiles of the genes inhibited in mutant 4A (4A/DP multi-time point comparison). The results of these experiments for the identified candidate genes are shown in FIG. 1.

The DP16 time course showed two classes of expression profiles: Class I genes showed peak expression at 0 dpa; while Class II genes exhibited increased expression towards +2 dpa (FIG. 1. Column A). Three genes, GhMyb25, the GhHD1 and GhCycD3;1, had a Class I expression profile suggesting a role in the early events of fibre initiation at anthesis. The expression of GhCycD3;1 increased continually from −4 dpa to 0 dpa and plateaued between 0 dpa and +2 dpa, while GhMyb25 and the GhHD1 exhibit a dip in expression at −2 dpa followed by a peak at 0 dpa and then a decline towards +2 dpa. The peak expression at 0 dpa of these three genes coincided with the time of fibre initiation. The rest of the genes all showed a Class II expression pattern although the specific details differed among them. The expression of GhFU1 and GhSus (sucrose synthase) increased gradually in the time period examined. GhFaE1 (transferase family) and the expression of GhTMTP (transmembrane transporter) showed a slight decrease from −4 dpa to −2 dpa and then increased gradually towards +2 dpa. The third group from this class comprised α-Expansin and GhLTP (lipid transfer protein) which show a distinctly flat profile from −4 dpa to 0 dpa followed by a sharp increase from 0 dpa to +2 dpa. The last member from this class, GhFU2, exhibited increased expression from −4 dpa to −2 dpa and again from 0 dpa to +2 dpa, while the expression between −2 dpa to 0 dpa remained unchanged.

The multiple time point comparisons of 4A/DP16 revealed the time and duration of up- or down-regulation of the genes in the 4A mutant relative to DP16 (FIG. 1. Column B). Among the Class I genes, none showed significant repression relative to DP16 at −2 dpa in 4A ovules, instead, the repression started after −2 dpa and reached the lowest level at 0 dpa for the GhHD1 and GhCycD3;1 genes, while GhMyb25 continued to decrease slightly after 0 dpa. Class II genes, in a similar fashion, did not show any significant repression at −2 dpa, and repression started after −2 dpa for most of the genes except GhSus, which only showed a later repression after 0 dpa. All the Class II genes exhibited repression at about +2 dpa. Three Class II genes, GhSus, α-Expansin and GhLTP, were not identified as differentially expressed genes in the initial 0 dpa 4A/DP comparisons. It became clear from this experiment that the repression of GhSus did not occur until after 0 dpa and only became significant at +2 dpa, while the repression of α-Expansin and GhLTP began after −2 dpa only became highly significant towards +2 dpa when fibres were rapidly elongating in the wild-type.

Example 5 Confirmation of Down-Regulation of Fibre Initiation Genes

The genetic background of the fibre mutants (B1278 and SL) used herein was not identical to that of the DP16 control used in the comparisons. Neither parental genotype was available for use in the experiments described above. While the differential expression of genes observed between the mutants and the wild-type might have arisen due to differences in the genetic backgrounds of the plants, the commonality of the genes identified among the different mutants and the fact that some have been characterized previously as important for fibre development using different strategies, suggested otherwise. A fuzzless-lintless (fl) mutant had recently been isolated from the Chinese G. hirsutum cultivar Xu-142 and used to identify and characterize fibre development related genes (Yu et al., 2000, Li et al., 2002, Ji et al., 2003). These two lines provided an isogenic pair with which to validate the genes identified from the other mutants. RNA from 0 dpa ovules of fl was compared to that of 0 dpa ovules of Xu-142 and 119 clones were identified as differentially expressed in four replicates. The same outer/inner integument gene expression filter as described above was applied to the data set and identified 13 differentially expressed genes that were also up-regulated in the outer integument of DP16 ovules. Amongst the 13 genes, 8 were in common with genes identified in the other lintless mutant/DP16 comparisons and the results are presented in Table 4. This comparison also revealed 5 additional genes that had not been identified in the previous 5 mutants. One of the cDNA clones, ON038N8 (886 bp), encodes a Myb protein which was 69% identical to the GhMyb25 protein. Other genes include two different RD22 genes, a second LTP and a putative L-asparaginase.

TABLE 4 Genes differentially expressed in fl as compared to Xu-142 Name Clone No fl/Xu-142** Most Homologous gene*** α-Expansin* Pfs14x −11.5 (AF512539) Alpha-expansin GhFU1* ON035C9 −9.8 Unknown GhMyb25* ON035F4 −9.0 (AF336283) GHMYB25 GhFU2* ON003F1 −7.8 Unknown GhFaE1* ON035N9 −7.4 (NP_195909) Transferase GhHD1* ON033M7 −6.1 (T05850) Homeobox protein ATML1 GhLTP* ON033M19 −4.9 (AAM62634) Lipid transfer protein GhTMTP* CHX015K18 −3.7 (NP_175557) ATP-dependent transmembrane transporter GhMyb25-like ON038N8 −4.4 (AF336283) GHMYB25 GhRD22 OCF005C10 −4.4 (AAL67991). Dehydration-induced protein RD22 GhAsp OCF008G9 −3.4 (BAC66615) L-aspraginase GhLTP2 OCF010D8 3.4 (CAA65477) Non-specific lipid-transfer protein GhRD22-like OCF006C1 5.3 (BAC22498) Resistant specific protein-1 *Genes in common with the candidate genes from the other 5 mutants. **The values presented in the table are the medians of Log₂ transformed, normalized and rescaled ratios of the two compared samples. The rescaling was performed by dividing through by an estimate of the median absolute deviation (computed on the final residual mean-difference data) as described by Wilson et al., (2003). ***Based on the top BlastX hit.

Example 6 Characterisation of GhMyb25 Expression

The nucleotide sequence of the clone ON035F4 was obtained. It was 1160 nucleotides in length with a coding region from nucleotides 68 to 995, encoding a protein which was 98% identical at the amino acid level to GhMyb25 (AF336283), expressed in 0 dpa ovules of G. hirsutum cultivar Acala Maxxa (Benjamin Burr, in Genbank). The encoded protein was an R2R3 type of Myb transcription factor. It was also 96% identical to the G. arboretum EST (BE054276), suggesting that it was from the A-genome present in tetraploid cotton. Outside the R2R3 region, which is highly conserved amongst all Myb transcription factors, GhMyb25 showed highest homology to the Petunia hybrida MYB.Ph3 and Antirrhinum majus MIXTA (AmMIXTA) than to Arabidopsis GL1 and cotton MYBA, another cotton myb which caused distinct abnormalities when over expressed in transgenic tobacco including the production of cotyledonary trichomes (Payne et al., 1999). The sequence of GhMyb25 currently in Genbank (AF336283) contained an unspliced intron that was not present in our clone (nucleotides 201-282 of AF336283).

Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays were used to analyse expression of the gene as follows. Total RNA samples isolated from cotton tissues were DNase (RQ1 RNase-free DNase, Promega) treated and 0.5 μg of the total RNA was used in a RT-PCR reaction. The first strand cDNA synthesis was performed using SuperScript II reverse transcriptase and buffer supplied by the manufacturer (Life Technologies). The RT-PCR reaction was performed essentially as described by McFadden et al., (2001). The cotton β-tubulin gene was used as a control in all the RT-PCR reactions. The forward and reverse primers used for β-tubulin are 5′-AGAACATGATGTGTCTGC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:65) and 5′-AGCTGTGAACTGCTCACTC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:66) respectively and the resulting cDNA fragment was 300 bp. The forward and reverse primers used for GhMyb25 RT-PCR were: 5′-TCAAACCCTCCTCAAAGCAACC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:67) and 5′-ATTCCATTACCAGACGATGATGAC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:68) respectively and this produced a cDNA fragment of 224 bp. The GhMyb25 and β-tubulin RT-PCR reactions were performed in a one-tube reaction amplified with an initial denaturation cycle at 95° C. for 3 min followed by 23 cycles at 95° C. for 15 sec, 55° C. for 15 sec, 72° C. for 1 min and with a final cycle of 72° C. for 2 min. 5 μl of the RT-PCR reaction was checked on a 2% agarose gel and the gel was Southern-blotted to Hybond-N⁺ membrane (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech) and hybridized with ³²P-labelled probe derived from the cDNA clone of GhMyb25.

GhMyb25 expression was detected in 0 dpa wild-type ovules and not in petal, leaf and stem using RT-PCR (FIG. 2, panel a). GhMyb25 expression was detected in −2, 0, 2 and 5 dpa ovules with highest expression in 0 and 2 dpa ovules (FIG. 2, panel b). No expression of GhMyb25 was visible in ovules of −2, 0 and 2 dpa from three of the lintless mutants, 1A, SL1-7-1 and 4A (FIG. 2, panel c) although very low expression in the mutant ovules was revealed after hybridizing RT-PCR products with an ON035F4 probe (FIG. 2, panel d), consistent with the low levels of lint production that still occurs on these ovules. GhMyb25 expression peaked at 0 dpa in lines 1A and SL1-7-1, whereas in 4A, the highest expression was detected slightly later at 2 dpa.

Example 7 Characterisation of the Homeodomain Protein Gene GhHD1

ON033M7, a partial cDNA clone of 442 nucleotides, was extended by RT-PCR to 2207 nucleotides (without polyA tail), and encodes a protein with homology to two homeodomain proteins; protodermal factor 2 (Genbank: NP_(—)567274) (507/634 or 79% identical amino acids) and the L1-specific and ovule specific homeodomain gene ATML1 (Genbank: 105850) (518/657, 78% identical). ATML1 has been grouped with the Arabidopsis GLABRA2 in the same HD-GL2 class and they also share a common L1 layer-specific or dermal-specific pattern of expression (Lu at al., 1996). The cotton gene was designated GhHD1. GhHD1 is only 43% and 42% identical to the other cotton homeodomain proteins that are present in Genbank, GhHOX1 (AAM97321) and GhHOX2 (AAM97322), respectively.

RT-PCR experiments were carried out to analyse expression, in similar fashion to those described above. The forward and reverse primers used for the GhHD1 RT-PCR were: 5′-GCTTTCTCTTGGATCAG-3′ (SEQ ID NO:69) and 5′-CAATAACACATGAAACCAG-3′ (SEQ ID NO:70) respectively and these resulted to a cDNA fragment of 384 bp. The GhHD1 and β-tubulin RT-PCR reactions were performed separately under the conditions described above. 10 μl of the RT-PCR reaction was electrophoresed on a 2% agarose gel and the gel was Southern-blotted to Hybond-N⁺ membrane (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech) and hybridized with ³²P-labelled probe derived from the cDNA clone of the putative homeodomain gene. Since the expression of the β-tubulin appeared to be variable in different cotton tissues, the quantification of the GhHD1 expression using β-tubulin gene as a standard was only performed on the 0 dpa ovules of different cotton lines using an Image-Quant program (Molecular Dynamics).

GhHD1 was mainly expressed in ovules of various developmental stages and at much lower levels in leaves as revealed by RT-PCR (FIG. 3). The expression increased at −1 dpa and remained high till 2 dpa. Low expression levels were observed in 4 dpa ovules (with fibres attached), 8 dpa ovules (without fibres) and 8 dpa detached fibres. The expression levels of 0 dpa ovules of mutants 5B and 4A relative to DP16 0 dpa ovules after normalization with β-tubulin expression is shown in FIG. 3. The expression in the mutant ovules was slightly reduced in 5B and remained similar to wild-type in 4A ovules. The RT-PCR band was confirmed as GhHD1-specific by Southern blot hybridization using the ON033M7 cDNA fragment as probe.

Example 8 Characterisation of Other Genes

The characteristics of the genes identified in this study are summarized in Tables 5 and 6.

Clone OCF07F4 encoded a cyclin D3, similar to AAQ19972, 106/149 similar amino acids, 71%).

TABLE 5 Characteristics of fibre initiation genes identified from cotton ovules. Full Length Translation Translation Designation Clone No Length (nt*) Or Partial? start/stop product size GhMyb25 ON035F4 1160 F 68/995  309 GhFaE1 ON035N9 704 P — at least 234 GhFU1 ON035C9 548 F 50/371  107 α-Expansin Pfs14x^(b) 835 P ?/766 255 GhFU2 ON003F1 727 P ?/563 113 GhHD1 ON033M7 2222 P  ?/1873 624 GhTMTP CHX015K18 985 P ?/572 191 GhCycD3; 1 OCF07F4 600 P ?/453 151 CHX007D10^(c) CHX007D10 Chimerical? — GhSus CHX002C10 2611 F  8/2423 805 GhLTP ON033M19 732 F 10/595  195 GhMyb25-like ON038N8 886 P ?/887 295 GhRD22 OCF005C10 1353 F 58/1180 374 GhAsp OCF008G9 1024 P ?/796 265 GhLTP2 OCF010D8 610 F 33/402  123 GhRD22-Like OCF006C1 1373 P  ?/1213 404 *Omitting polyA sequence if present.

TABLE 6 Summary of closest match for the cotton ovule genes. Percentage Percentage Percentage Identity Accession No. of identity (No. identity by BlastX nearest match of matched over full Name Clone No Most Homologous gene (BlastX)^(a) (Similarity)^(a) (BlastN)^(b) nucleotides) length GhMyb25 ON035F4 (AF336283) GHMYB25 98% (98%) AF336283 99% (951/964) 99% [Gossypium hirsutum] G. hirsutum GHMYB GhFaEl ON035N9 (NP_195909) Transferase family 54% (72%) NM_120367.2| 81% (88/108) 58% [Arabidopsis thaliana] A. thaliana transferase GhFU1 ON035C9 none none AF027686 81% (89/109) 50% Onobrychis viciifolia α-Expansin Pfs14x (AF512539) Alpha-expansin 99% AF043284 99% (828/836) 99% precursor [Gossypium hirsutum] G. hirsutum expansin GhFU2 ON003F1 none none none none — GhHD1 ON033M7 (T05850) Homeobox protein 86% (93%) NM_116727.2|; 79% (482/605) 70% ATML1 [Arabidopsis thaliana] A. thaliana homeodomain GhTMTP CHX015K18 (NP_175557) ATP-dependent 65% (86%) NM_104024.2| 87% (68/78) 63% transmembrane transporter [Arabidopsis thaliana] GhCycD3; 1 OCF07F4 (AAQ19972) Cyclin D3-2 53% (71%) NM_119579.2| 91% (31/34) 52% [Euphorbia esula] CHX007D10 CHX007D10 (BAB83948) proline AY492003.1| 80% (120/149) 40% oxidase/dehydrogenase G. max proline dehydrogenase GhSus CHX002C10 (AAD28641) Sucrose synthase 94% (95%) U73588 98% (2443/2482) 98% [Gossypium hirsutum] G. hirsutum sucrose synthase GhLTP ON033M19 (AAM62634) Lipid transfer protein, 66% (83%) none none putative [Arabidopsis thaliana] GhMyb25-like ON038N8 (AF336283) GHMYB25 58% (64%) AF336283 94% (64/68) 63% [Gossypium hirsutum] G. hirsutum GHMYB GhRD22 OCF005C10 (AAL67991) Dehydration-induced 76% (80%) AY072821.1| 94% (810/864) 94% protein RD22 [Gossypium hirsutum] G. hirsutum dehydration induced GhAsp OCF008G9 (BAC66615) L-aspraginase 63% (76%) AP006428.1| Lotus corniculatus 93% (56/60) [Glycine max] Chromosome5 complete sequense 127049bp GhLTP2 OCF010D8 (CAA65477) Non-speciflc lipid- 54% (74%) AF519812.1| Nicotiana tabacum 91% (41/43) 34% transfer protein [Prunus dulcis] GhRD22-like OCF006C1 (BAC22498) Resistant specific 43% (60%) none 30/32 protein-1 [Vigna radiata] coincidental ^(a)BlastX determines the percentage amino acid identity (% similarity in parentheses) over the region of closest match to the Genbank database. ^(b)BlastN determines the nearest match at the nucleotide level in the Genbank database.

Example 9 Fibre Cells Undergo DNA Endoreduplication During Initiation

The observation that a cyclin D3 gene encoded by clone OCF007F4 was down-regulated in 0 dpa ovules of mutants 4A and 5B compared to DP16 prompted the inventors to investigate the cell division and DNA replication activities of the epidermal layers of DP16 and lintless 4A ovules. Ovules of cotton line DP16 and 4A at −2, −1 and 0 dpa stages were fixed in 3:1 (95% ethanol:acetic acid) for 1 hr at room temperature, cleared in 95%/1 mM MgCl₂ ethanol over night at room temperature and rehydrated through an ethanol series to 10 mMTris/1 mM MgCl₂ according to Szymanski and Marks (1998). The ovules were stained in 0.1 μg/ml propidium iodide for 30 seconds and than distained and kept in 10 mMTris/1 mM MgCl₂.

Nuclear DNA content of ovule epidermal and fibre cells at the chalazal end were measured using a Leica SP2 confocal laser scanning microscope (Leica, Wetzler, Germany). At least 200 nuclei were measured from each sample which consisted of at least 3 ovules. Fluorescence at 600-740 nm was collected after excitation at 488 and 543 nm using a 63×NA 1.25 water-immersion lens. After optically sectioning through the ovule epidermis, the mean fluorescence intensity and dimensions of epidermal and fibre cell nuclei was measured from the maximum projection of the optical stack. Total fluorescence of individual nuclei was calculated by multiplying nuclear area by average fluorescence. This value was converted to a ratio by normalising against total fluorescence of epidermal cell nuclei at telophase or anaphase (2C) within the same image. The normalized values were then used to construct histograms of epidermal and fibre cell nuclear DNA content.

Since fibre cells are known to cease dividing after differentiation, the ovule epidermal cell division activities of DP16 and 4A-183 were examined at and before anthesis. Over the period examined (−2, −1 and 0 dpa), the extent of cell division in the ovule epidermis of lintless 4A and DP16 were not significantly different (paired t-test, P=2.1%) although the division rate in 4A was slightly higher than in DP16 (Table 7). It appears that the ovule epidermis division rates are higher at −1 dpa for both DP16 and 4A, although the significance of this is unclear.

TABLE 7 Cell division rates in ovule epidermal cells of DP16 and mutant 4A DPA DP16 4A −2 dpa 2.78% 2.97% −1 dpa 3.25% 3.5%  0 dpa 2.69% 2.84%

Relative DNA contents of the epidermal cells and fibre cells were also measured, and normalized using DNA contents of nuclei at anaphase or telophase (2C) and the results are presented in FIG. 4. Since the pre-fibre initials and epidermal cell are visually indistinguishable at −2 and −1 dpa, the data for those times are presented as total epidermal cells. The results indicate that epidermal pavement cells of DP16 and Lintless 4A at these time points have a DNA content peak around 2 to 2.4 C, while differentiated fibre initials of DP16 when clearly distinguishable at 0 dpa, have an increased DNA content with the majority of cells showing a DNA content between 2.8 C and 5.2 C. While this result clearly suggests that the majority of fibre cells undergo at least one round of DNA endoreduplication during initiation, the involvement of the cyclin D3 gene in this process still needs to be verified.

Example 10 Cloning of Full-Length cDNA Sequences and Genes Encoding Therefor

At least two approaches can be used to determine the full length sequence of partial cDNA clones described herein.

One method is to screen a cDNA library, such as the cotton DP-16 ovule −3 dpa to 0 dpa library described herein, with a radioactively labelled polynucleotide which comprises the known portion of the cDNA. Library screening is performed as described by Sambrook et al., (supra), or other techniques known to those of skill in the art.

In another method, two primers of about 17 to about 20 nucleotides derived from both ends of the known partial sequence are synthesized and used to amplify the desired cDNA from a population of cDNA reverse transcribed with a poly-T comprising primer from mRNA obtained from, for example, cotton DP-16 ovule −3 dpa to 0 dpa. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is carried out under routine conditions, for instance, in 25 μl of reaction mixture with 0.5 μg of the above cDNA mixture. A convenient reaction mixture is 1.5-5 mM MgCl₂, 0.01% (w/v) gelatin, 20 μM each of dATP, dCTP, dGTP, dTTP, 25 pmol of each primer and 0.25 Unit of Taq polymerase. Thirty five cycles of PCR (denaturation at 94° C. for 1 min; annealing at 55° C. for 1 min; elongation at 72° C. for 1 min) are performed with a Perkin-Elmer Cetus automated thermal cycler. The amplified product is analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis and the DNA band with expected molecular weight (as determined by Northen blot analsysi) is excised and purified. The PCR product is verified to be the selected sequence by subcloning and sequencing the DNA product.

Several other methods are available for the identification of the 5′ or 3′ ends of an mRNA sequence. These methods include but are not limited to, filter probing, clone enrichment using specific probes, and protocols similar or identical to 5′ and 3′ “RACE” protocols which are well known in the art. For instance, a method similar to 5′ RACE is available for generating the missing 5′ end of a desired full-length transcript. Briefly, a specific RNA oligonucleotide is ligated to the 5′ ends of a population of RNA presumably containing full-length gene RNA transcripts. A primer set containing a primer specific to the ligated RNA oligonucleotide and a primer specific to a known sequence of the gene of interest is used to PCR amplify the 5′ portion of the desired full-length gene. This amplified product may then be sequenced and used to generate the full length cDNA.

To clone the corresponding gene of a cDNA described herein, a cotton genomic library is made in a λ vector and plaques obtained by plating 10⁶ or more λ infectious particles at high density in a suitable E. coli host. The plaques are transferred to nylon filters. A gene specific probe designed considering the polynucleotides provided herein is labelled with radioactive label and used to hybridise to the nylon filters. Plaques corresponding to spots of hybridisation are isolated and confirmed to be positive for desired sequence by second or third rounds of hybridisation. DNA sequencing of the gene segments in the λ clones is carried out by standard methods to determine the full nucleotide sequence of the gene and the flanking upstream and downstream regions.

Example 11 Up-Regulation of Genes in the Fibre Initials Compared to Epidermal Cells

To investigate whether the differentially expressed genes described above such as GhMyb25 and GhHD1 were expressed in fibre initials on the day of anthesis, laser capture microdissection (LCM) was used to isolate fibre initial cells and epidermal cells from sections of 0 dpa DP16 ovules, as follows. Ovaries of DP16 were fixed in 75% (v/v) ethanol and 25% (v/v) acetic acid immediately on ice after the ovaries were dissected from 0 dpa flowers and ovary wall removed. The subsequent infiltration of the fixative, 10% (w/v) sucrose and 15% (w/v) sucrose was as described by Nakazono et al. (2003). The ovaries were then embedded in TissueTek OCT (Sakura Finetechnical, Tokyo, Japan), frozen immediately on brass stubs and sectioned at 40-50 μm in a cryomicrotome (Model CT1, International Equipment Co., Nedham Heights, USA). The tissue sections were mounted on polylysine coated slides (Polysine, Biolab Scientific, Australia) air-dried and then dehydrated for 1 min in each of 70%, 95% and 100% ethanol on ice. The slides were then stored at −80° C. The PALM laser capture system (P.A.L.M. Microlaser Technologies AG Inc., Bernried, Germany) was used for LCM. The slides were removed from the freezer and dehydrated in 100% ethanol for 3 min and air dried before LCM. The LCM was performed according to the manufacturer's instruction. Individual fibre initial cells (total approx. 400 cells) or epidermal cells (total approx. 100 cells) were catapulted without precutting into 45 μl RNALater then stored at −20° C.

RNA was isolated from the captured cells as follows. RNA was extracted from the captured cells using the method described by Wu et al. (2002) with some modifications. The sample of the captured cells (with 45 μl RNALater) were homogenized in 500 μl RNA extraction buffer with 20 ng carrier RNA (carrier RNA from Qiagen RNeasy micro kit) using a Ystral homogenizer (HD Scientific). After spinning for 2 min at maximum speed in an Eppendorf micro centrifuge, the supernatant was transferred to a fresh tube. 250 μl ethanol was added to the sample before the sample was loaded onto a Qiagen RNeasy mini column. The column washing and RNA elution was as described in Qiagen RNeasy mini kit protocol. The eluted RNA was concentrated under vacuum until remaining volume was about 10 μl.

The isolated RNA was amplified using a MessageAmp aRNA Kit (Ambion) following manufacturer's instructions. Two rounds of amplifications were performed and the resulting anti-sense RNA was quantified at OD₂₆₀ and resuspended at concentration of 100 ng/μl. The RT-PCR of Myb25 and GhHD1 using the amplified RNA was essentially as described earlier except that 100 ng of amplified RNA (instead of 0.5 μg total RNA) per reaction was used as template. In addition to the β-tubulin positive control, a cotton polyubiquitin (CK738219 in Dowd et al. 2004) was used as a normalisation standard. The forward and reverse primers used for polyubiquitin RT-PCR were: 5′-CAAGACAAGGAAGGCATCCCAC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 73) and 5′-TCGGAACTCTCCACCTCCAAAG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 74) respectively and these resulted in a cDNA fragment of 200 bp. All RT-PCR reactions were amplified using the previously described RT-PCR program with 28 cycles and the resulting RT-PCR bands were quantified using Multi Gange V 2.11 (FUJIFILM) and then normalised using the corresponding polyubiquitin bands.

Both GhHD1 and GhMyb25 exhibited fibre initial enriched expression with the expression of GhHD1 being more than two fold enhanced in fibre initial cells relative to non-fibre epidermal cells, and GhMyb25 expression enhanced by 1.8 fold in fibre initial cells relative to in non-fibre epidermal cells.

Laser capture microdissection thus provided a very specific means of isolating the fibre initial cells from the adjacent non-fibre initial cells in the outer epidermis. Combining LCM with RT-PCR techniques, we have shown that both the GhMyb25 and the homeodomain gene were up-regulated on the day of anthesis in fibre initials relative to adjacent non-fibre ovule epidermal cells and expression was predominantly ovule-specific. Their spatial and temporal expression pattern therefore coincided with the time and location of fibre initiation and is further evidence of a role in this process.

Example 12 Heterologous Function of Genes in Other Plant Species

To show that these genes can have function in plants other than cotton, an over-expression construct with the subterranean clover stunt virus promoter 7 (Schünmann et al. 2003) driving the expression of the full length GhMyb25 cDNA clone was introduced into tobacco and Arabidopsis by Agrobacterium mediated transformation as follows. The coding region of Myb25 cDNA 0.9 Kb fragment was cloned into the EcoRI site of binary vector pPLEX3003 (GenBank AY159024) expressed from the subterranean clover stunt virus promoter 7 and linked to NADP malic enzyme terminator MeI (Schünmann et al., 2003). The pPLEX3003-GhMyb25 construct was then introduced into Agrobacterium tumefaciens AGL1 strain and used to transform (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. 38) leaf as described by Borsch et al. (1985).

For RT-PCR verification of GhMyb25 expression in T₀ and T₁ generations of transgenic tobacco, total RNA was isolated from young leaves of the transgenic tobacco lines using the Trizol method (GibcoBRL) and DNase treated. 2 μg of RNA was used in each RT-PCR reaction using Qiagen one-step RT-PCR Kit and following the manufacture's protocol. The primers were the same as in the RT-PCR from cotton RNA resulting in a 224 bp cDNA fragment. A total number of 32 cycles at 94° C. for 1 min, 50° C. for 1 min and 72° C. for 1 min was used for the amplification and 5 μl of the reaction was loaded on a 2% agarose gel to visualise the RT-PCR band.

Genomic DNA was isolated from leaves of transgenic tobacco T₁ plants using half strength CTAB buffer and a simplified procedure of Patterson et al (1992). PCR reactions using genomic DNA of tobacco plants were performed to verify transgene (GhMyb25) segregation in T1 population. The PCR reaction contained 2 mM MgCl₂, 0.2 mM each of the dNTPs, 0.2 μM each of the same Myb25 forward and reverse primers as for RT-PCR, 1 unit Taq F2 DNA polymerase and 1×F2 buffer (Fisher Biotech Limited, Perth) in a 50 μl reaction. Twenty plants from each line were analysed and the presence of the transgene resulted a 224 bp fragment.

Phenotypic analysis of 4 independent primary transformants of tobacco expressing GhMyb 25 showed increased numbers of branched long-stalked trichomes not normally formed on the adaxial leaf surface. Branched long-stalked trichomes were occasionally observed on leaf veins of wild type tobacco, but on the transformants, a 3 to 12 fold increase in these trichomes was observed primarily on parts of the leaf other than on veins. In transgenic Arabidopsis, the expression of GhMyb25 had no obvious effect on trichomes.

T₁ plants (minimum 20 plants/line) of 6 transgenic tobacco lines were screened for transgene segregation at both genomic and mRNA level. A correlation between the increased number of branched long-stalked trichomes and transgene expression was observed visually in all the 6 lines. Line 11, for example, showed a 3:1 transgene segregation ratio and 5 plants from this line were used for detailed trichome number analysis. The number of long-stalked trichomes, short trichomes, stomata and epidermal pavement cells were counted on SEM images. The number of the long-stalked trichomes, short-stalked trichome and stomata per thousand epidermal cells from the four plants expressing the transgene (11-7, 11-4, 11-19 and 11-3) were compared to that of a null segregant plant, 11-8, that showed no expression of the transgene by RT-PCR. Amongst the three cell types, only the density of long-stalked trichomes showed a small (about 20%, averaged over the 4 plants), but significant increase over that of plant 11-8. The other two cell types had variable densities with some plants showing slightly higher and other plants slightly lower numbers when compared to 11-8. The most visible phenotype however was the branching of the long-stalked trichomes observed on the T0 plants that were on average 8 times more prevalent in the transgenic T1 lines than in the null segregant controls.

GhMyb25 (and the GhMyb25-like gene) showed higher sequence similarity to the Petunia hybrida PhMyb1 and the Antirrhinum MIXTA factors than to GL1 or other cotton Mybs. Both PhMyb1 and MIXTA show petal epidermis-specific expression (Solano et al. 1995, Noda et al 1994) and MIXTA is a regulator of the conical shape of the petal epidermal cells (Noda et al 1994). Over-expression of MIXTA in transgenic tobacco caused the production of supernumerary trichomes on cotyledons, leaves, stems and floral organs as well as the production of novel conical cells on leaves (Glover et al. 1998, Payne et al. 1999). GhMyb25 on the other hand only caused an increase of branched long-stalked trichomes and a small increase in the total number of long-stalked trichomes in tobacco, but did not have any effect on short trichomes or epidermal cell shape. GhMyb25 was expressed only in the ovules, predominantly in fibre initials and not in later stage fibres, or petals, so is not a direct homolog of MIXTA.

Example 13 Production of Transgenic Cotton

For over-expression of genes in a fibre producing plant such as cotton, the coding sequence of a gene of the invention may be operably linked to a promoter and a 3′ transcription termination and polyadenylation signal functional in plants, to form a chimeric gene. The promoter may be expressed constitutively throughout the plant, for example, a subterranean clover stunt virus promoter (S7; WO 96/06932), or in a tissue-specific manner. For example, the promoter may be preferentially active in the epidermal cells of the ovule, to provide an altered expression pattern of the coding sequence in these cells. The chimeric gene is operably linked to a selectable marker gene and introduced into a T-DNA vector. Cotton plants are transformed using the Agrobacterium mediated transformation technique. Transgenic cotton lines are identified, fibre number, fibre length, fuzz fibre length, cellulose content, and dry weight of the lint is analyzed.

For down-regulation of expression of one or more of the genes, hairpin-RNA (RNAi) constructs were generated for six genes: GhMyb25, GhHD1, GhMyb25-like, GhEX1, GhFU1 and GhFaE1 using the vector pHELLSGATE8 and recombinational cloning technology (Gateway™, Invitrogen). pHELLSGATE8 was based on pHELLSGATE described in Wesley et al (2001) (Genbank Accession no. AJ311874). pHELLSGATE8 was an improved vector which contained attR recombinational sites instead of attP sites and gave more efficient gene silencing compared to pHELLSGATE. pHELLSGATE8 did not contain a selectable marker in the intron; this did not affect the efficiency of obtaining the correct recombinant. For production of constructs in pHELLSGATE8, each gene insert is first introduced into the attP containing vector pDONR201 (Invitrogen) after PCR amplification of the gene insert using PCR primers containing attP sequences, so that the attP sites flanked the gene insert. The gene sequences used in the constructs are presented in Table 8.

TABLE 8 Gene sequences used in the constructs for RNAi. Candidate Construct Sequence Sequence Sequence gene Vector type 5′ (start) 3′ (end) Length GhMyb25 pHELLSGATE8 Hairpin 581 804 224 bp GhHD1 pHELLSGATE8 Hairpin 1785 2119 335 bp GhMyb25- pHELLSGATE8 Hairpin 272 832 561 bp like GhEX1 pHELLSGATE8 Hairpin 344 779 436 bp GhFU1 pHELLSGATE8 Hairpin 52 530 479 bp GhFaEl pHELLSGATE8 Hairpin 163 686 524 bp

BP and LR Clonase enzymes (Invitrogen) were used according to the suppliers instructions. Detailed descriptions and methods for using the Gateway™ cloning system were available from the supplier (www.invitrogen.com). When the ccdB gene was present in a vector, it was propagated in the E. coli strain DB3.1 (Invitrogen).

Recombinants were selected on plates containing 50 μg/ml spectinomycin and the same medium.

Recombination to introduce two copies of the gene inserts, one in sense orientation and the second in antisense orientation, into pHELLSGATE8 was carried out as follows. Each reaction mix contained 2 μl LR clonase buffer, 1-2 μl PCR product, 2 μl pHellsgate8 (150 ng/ml), Tris-EDTA to 8 and 2 μl LR clonase. Each reaction was incubated at 25° C. for at least 1 hour, usually overnight, then 1 μl proteinase K added followed by incubation at 37° C. for 10 min. 1-10 μl of each reaction was transformed into DH5α cells, either RbCl- or electro-competent cells. Each mixture was plated on spectinomycin containing medium. Colonies were picked and small-scale plasmid preparations made for analysis with XbaI and XhoI restriction emzymes. In some cases the intron in pHELLSGATE8 became reversed during the recombination reaction, so it was necessary to screen a sufficient number of colonies to obtain a recombinant with the correctly oriented intron.

Each of the hairpin-RNA constructs was introduced into cotton using Agrobacterium mediated transformation. The cotton transformation method used was as described by Cousins et al (1991), as modified by Murray et al (1999).

Regenerated plants are analysed for the presence of the hairpin-RNA gene, its expression, and for altered fibre production.

Example 14 Discussion

The use of multiple mutant lines in the above mentioned expression studies enabled confirmation and complementation of the findings from one mutant to another and focus in on the most critical genes for fibre development. It also helps to smooth out “noise” contributed by the biological variability in fibre growth and the unknown and maybe diverse genetic backgrounds of some of the mutants. The comparison of gene expression profiles between the outer integument and the inner ovule tissues served as a filter, to eliminate those genes that are not expressed at higher levels in the outer integument and helped to focus on a small set of about 10 candidate genes. The wild type time course data reveal that the expression profiles of these candidate genes separated them into two classes with class I genes (GhMyb25, GhHD1 and GhCycD3;1) showing peak expression at 0 dpa, coinciding with the time of fibre initiation; class II genes exhibiting increased expression at 2 dpa, suggesting a more important role in fibre elongation.

By analogy with the regulatory genes involved in Arabidopsis leaf trichome development, it might have been expected to find a Myb transcription factor expressed in cotton fibre that was similar to GL1. GhMyb25 (and the GhMyb25-like gene), however, shows higher sequence similarity to the Petunia hybrida Myb.Ph3 and the Antirrhinum MIXTA than to GL1 or other cotton Mybs. Both Myb.Ph3 and MIXTA show petal epidermis-specific expression. Based on its expression pattern, it was speculated that the function of Myb.Ph3 was to regulate flavonoid biosynthesis (Solano et al., 1995), but this speculation has not been confirmed. The function of MIXTA has been revealed as a controlling factor for the conical shape of petal epidermal cells (Node et al., 1994). Overexpression of MIXTA in transgenic tobacco lead to production of supernumerary trichomes on cotyledons, leaves and stems as well as novel production of conical cells on leaves (Payne et al., 1999). In contrast, GhMyb25 is expressed only in the ovules and not in later stage fibres (or petals so is not a homolog of MIXTA). It had higher expression in outer integuments and the time of expression coincide with fibre initiation. Accordingly, GhMyb25 plays a role in fibre initiation. The fact that GhMyb25 is down-regulated in all the lintless mutants, including the new fl mutant, points to a role as a positive regulator of fibre initiation.

Comparison of the fl mutant with its parental genotype identified in addition to the 8 genes common to other mutants, a second Myb transcription factor, a GhMyb25-like gene, containing a conserved region outside the R2R3 domain shared by all the MIXTA class of Mybs (Stracke et al., 2001). The GhMyb25-like gene is only 64% identical to probable A-genome derived GhMyb25 at the nucleotide level (69% similarity at the amino acid level), suggesting it is unlikely to be the homoelogous D-genome partner of GhMyb25 present in tetraploid cotton. GhMyb25-like is expressed at low level in −4, −2 dpa ovules of DP16 (0.3 relative to 0 dpa ovule of 1) and increased sharply to 1 at 0 dpa and remained at a similar level of 1 at 2 dpa. This expression profile indicates a role for GhMyb25-like in fibre initiation. Among the 5 additional genes identified in this analysis, there were two RD22 genes, consistent with the findings of Li et al., (2002) who identified a RD22 gene showing fibre specific expression using the same lines.

The putative homeodomain gene identified in this study has high similarity in part of its C-terminus to the L1 specific and ovule specific homeodomain gene ATML1. ATML1 was classified in the same HD-GL2 class as Arabidopsis GL2 based on sequence homology and they share a common L1 layer-specific or dermal-specific pattern of expression (Lu et al., 1996). ATML1 was proposed to be involved in setting up morphogenetic boundaries of positional information necessary for controlling cell specification and pattern formation based on gene expression patterns. GL2 that has been studied for its role in trichome, root-hair and seed coat development (Rerie et al., 1994, Cristina et al., 1996, Masucci et al., 1996). The GL2 mutations resulted in aborted trichomes with aberrant cell expansion whereas entopic expression noticeably increased the number of trichomes and induced clusters of trichome formation (Ohashi et al., 2002). The GhHD1 gene is expressed in ovules with higher expression in outer integument, in fibres as well as in leaves and this expression pattern probably reflects a more general role in different epidermal cell specification and pattern formation similar to that shown by the GL2.

DNA endoreduplication, a strategy to amplify nuclear DNA without cell division is a major mechanism leading to somatic polyploidisation in plants (reviewed by Joubes and Chevalier 2000). Correlations have been established between polyploidy and cell differentiation and cell expansion. While it is well established that Arabidopsis trichomes undergo four rounds of endoreduplication during development, leading to branched cells with nuclei containing about 32C DNA (Schnittger et al., 2002), it has been less than clear whether cotton fibre initials undergo a similar process. Berlin (1986) studied tritiated thymidine uptake by epidermal layer using in vitro cultured cotton ovules and observed that there was an increase in thymidine incorporation from −2 dpa to 1 dpa and then the incorporation declined and finally stopped at 6 dpa. These observations were interpreted as DNA synthesis in preparation for cell division. Since fibre initials do not undergo divisions and no thymidine incorporation was observed in the elongating fibres, the author suggested that gene amplification did not occur during fibre development over the time observed (Berlin 1986). Van't H of (1998) reported that the DNA content of developing cotton fibre cells only increased by about 24% from 2 dpa to 5 dpa and suggested that during early stages of development fibre cell nuclei either selectively amplify certain sequences or enter S-phase replicating only a portion of their genome. Using laser-confocal microscopy and propidium iodide staining, we examined ovule epidermal cell division rates and DNA contents of epidermal cells and fibre cells. Our results show that the epidermal cell division rates remain relatively constant from −2 dpa to 0 dpa (with a small increase at −1 dpa). While nuclear DNA contents of epidermal cells remain largely unchanged from −2 dpa to 0 dpa, the fibre initials contain nuclei that mostly show higher than 2C DNA content with the majority of cells showing DNA contents between 2.8 C and 5.2 C. While our results suggest the fibre initials undergo one round DNA endoreduplication starting at 0 dpa, they do not exclude the possibility of selective amplification of certain sequences or partial replication of the genome at later stages suggested by Van't Hof's work. In addition, the enlarged nuclei in fibre initials revealed by the ultrastructural studies (review by Berlin 1986) provided further support to the DNA amplification phenomenon.

Although accumulating data reveal that DNA endoreduplication is developmentally regulated, it is still poorly understood in plants (reviewed by Joubes and Chevalier 2000). Assuming the endoreduplication is a modified cell cycle, it may share common determinants with the classic cell cycle (Joubes and Chevalier 2000). The two main control points in the cell cycle are at the G1/S and G2/M transitions and in most plant cell types, the primary control point probably operates during G1 phase. This period not only includes the point of commitment to cell division, but may also represent the time during which differentiation decisions are made (reviewed by Meijer and Murray 2000). Mammalian cyclin D-Cdk4 complexes have been characterized as growth factor-responsive cell cycle regulators operating during G1 phase. Cyclin D3 was found to be present at high levels in megakaryocytes undergoing endoreduplication and was upregulated following exposure to the proliferation, maturation and ploidy-promoting factor, Mpl ligand (Zimmet et al., 1997). In plants, the presence of mutiple Cyclin D3 genes raises the question of functional redundancy of these genes and the extent to which they may have distinct or overlapping roles (Meijer and Murray, 2000). Arabidopsis CycD3;1, which is highly cytokinin-inducible (Riou-Khamlichi et al. 1999), when ectopically expressed, induced not only DNA replication but also cell division in trichomes (Schnittger et al., 2002). In synchronized tobacco BY-2 cell suspension cultures, tobacco CycD3; 2 was induced in G1 and remained at a constant level through out the cell cycle, similar to mammalian D-type cyclins. In contrast, CycD3;1 transcripts accumulated during mitosis, a pattern of expression not normally associated with D-type cyclins, suggesting a novel role for plant cyclins during mitosis or alternatively a BY-2 cell-specific phenomenon and not a normal feature of plant cell-cycle progression (Sorrell et al., 1999). The GhCycD3.1 identified in our experiments shows highest sequence homology to Euphobia esula cyclin D3;2. Since the decreased expression of this gene in the outer integuments of lintless mutant 4A-183 did not affect the epidermal cell division rates, it is appears that this gene is involved in the DNA endoreduplication of fibre initials similar to the tomato CycD3;1's involvement in endoreduplication of the differentiated giant cells of the fruit gel tissue (Joubès et al., 2000).

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

All publications discussed above are incorporated herein in their entirety.

Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.

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1-84. (canceled)
 85. A method of altering fibre initiation and/or elongation in a fibre producing plant comprising manipulating said plant such that the production of a polypeptide is modified when compared to a wild-type plant, wherein the polypeptide is a transcription factor, regulatory protein, or a cell cycle protein, produced in said wild type plant at, or around, anthesis.
 86. The method of claim 85, wherein the polypeptide comprises a sequence selected from the group consisting of: i) an amino acid sequence provided as any one of SEQ ID NOs:1 to 16; or ii) an amino acid sequence which is at least 50% identical to anyone of SEQ ID NOs:1 to
 16. 87. The method of claim 85 which comprises recombinantly expressing the polypeptide in said plant.
 88. The method of claim 85 which comprises reducing the level of the polypeptide endogenously produced by the plant.
 89. The method of claim 85, wherein the level of the polypeptide endogenously produced by the plant is reduced by exposing the plant to an antisense polynucleotide or a catalytic polynucleotide which hybridizes to an mRNA molecule encoding the polypeptide, and/or the level of the polypeptide endogenously produced by the plant is reduced by exposing the plant to a mRNA molecule that specifically down-regulates mRNA levels in a cell of an mRNA molecule encoding the polypeptide.
 90. The method of claim 85, wherein the plant is a species of the Genus Gossypium.
 91. A method of assessing the potential of a fibre producing plant to produce fibre, the method comprising analysing the plant for a genetic variation in a polynucleotide associated with fibre initiation and/or elongation, wherein the polynucleotide encodes a transcription factor, regulatory protein, or a cell cycle protein, produced in a wild type plant at, or around, anthesis, and/or the method comprising analysing the plant for a polypeptide involved in fibre initiation and/or elongation, wherein the polypeptide is a transcription factor, regulatory protein, or a cell cycle protein, produced in a wild type plant at, or around, anthesis.
 92. The method of claim 91, wherein the polynucleotide comprises a sequence selected from the group consisting of: i) a nucleotide sequence provided as anyone of SEQ ID NOs:17 to 45; or ii) a nucleotide sequence which is at least 50% identical to anyone of SEQ ID NOs:17 to
 45. 93. The method of claim 91, wherein the polypeptide comprises a sequence selected from the group consisting of: i) an amino acid sequence provided as any one of SEQ ID NOs:1 to 16; or ii) an amino acid sequence which is at least 50% identical to any one of SEQ ID NOs:1 to
 16. 94. A method of breeding a fibre producing plant, the method comprising performing a method of claim
 91. 95. A method of selecting from a breeding population a fibre producing plant with altered fibre initiation and/or elongation potential, the method comprising; i) crossing two plants which have differing potential to produce fibre, ii) performing a method of claim 91 on progeny plants, iii) selecting a progeny plant with altered fibre initiation and/or elongation potential when compared to a parent plant.
 96. A plant produced by the method of claim
 94. 97. A plant produced by the method of claim
 95. 98. Transgenic seed of a plant produced by the method of claim
 94. 99. Transgenic seed of a plant produced by the method of claim
 95. 100. Transgenic fibre of plant produced by the method of claim
 94. 101. Transgenic fibre of a plant produced by the method of claim
 95. 102. A method of identifying an agent which alters fibre initiation and/or elongation of a fibre producing plant, the method comprising a) exposing a polynucleotide which is at least 50% identical to anyone of SEQ ID NOs:17 to 45 to a candidate agent, and b) assessing the ability of the candidate agent to hybridize and/or cleave the polynucleotide. 